The Low-Cost Carriers as Catalysts of the Gig Economy

Implications for the International Air Travel Market and Platform-Based Transport Labor

Abstract

The expansion of Low-Cost Carriers (LCCs) has fundamentally reshaped international air travel by democratizing access and stimulating demand in previously underserved markets. Beyond their well-documented effects on pricing and competition, LCCs have become indirect yet powerful catalysts of the Gig Economy, particularly within the transport sector. By generating increased passenger volumes, expanding secondary airport ecosystems, and shifting consumer behavior toward price-sensitive, flexible travel, LCCs have created structural conditions favorable to the proliferation of platform-based, on-demand transport work, a phenomenon that in Brazil, according to data from IBGE's PNAD Contínua, grew by nearly 980% in the freight transport segment between 2016 and 2021. This article examines the intersection of LCC market dynamics and the Gig Economy, drawing on a theoretical framework that integrates Porter's Cost Leadership and Five Forces models with labor market analysis. Using a qualitative and documentary research design, the study synthesizes evidence from a Master's dissertation on LCC market impacts, Brazilian labor survey data (PNAD Contínua and PNAD Covid-19), and the emerging regulatory literature on platform labor in the European Union. Findings indicate that LCC-driven air travel growth stimulates ground-level gig work through demand for passenger transport, last-mile delivery, and airport-adjacent logistics services. The study contributes to a cross-disciplinary understanding of how aviation market liberalization interacts with the flexibilization of labor markets, and calls for coordinated policy responses that address both sectors simultaneously.