Evaluation of airport conditions to attract foreign low cost carriers: A case study of Taiwan

•This study explores determinants that influence the airport choice of foreign LCCs.•An FAHP is developed to measure weights of determinants and to assess priorities of alternatives.•The level of an airport's tariff is the most important factor in the survey.•TPE is the airport in Taiwan with potential to attract foreign LCC operations.

Low cost operation models are developing rapidly in the airline industry. However, Taiwan had no national low cost carriers (LCCs) until 2014, although the first foreign LCC began operating in Taiwan in 2004. Currently, most foreign LCCs operate at the Taoyuan International Airport (TPE), which is a primary gateway airport in Taiwan and handles a large number of passengers. This study aims to explore the determinants, beyond demand, that influence the airport choice of foreign LCCs. A hierarchical framework is applied to examine experts' opinions with a rank pair-wise comparison (RPC) approach. A fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) is used to evaluate the relative weights of all factors and this finds that the airport authority's promotion policy is the key factor. Based on an evaluation of three potential airports in Taiwan (TPE), Taipei Songshan Airport (TSA) and Kaohsiung International Airport (KHH), the airports' individual strengths and weaknesses can be easily distinguished. TPE remains the most contestable airport to attract foreign LCCs because of its corporatized operations.