Determinants of Financial Risk: An Empirical Application on Low-Cost Carriers

Abstract

The airline industry has entered a rapid development and transformation process, especially after the Second World War. In this process, it is seen that the market structure changed and many private airlines were established. Due to increased competition, airlines have begun to follow various strategies and business models in order to gain a competitive advantage over each other. One of the business models successfully applied recently is the low-cost business model. Therefore, this study focuses on airline companies that applied the low-cost business model. The study aims to reveal the factors that determine the financial risk in airlines, which implements the low-cost business model. For this purpose, firstly, airline companies that implement the low-cost business model have been identified according to the classification in the literature. The study included an analysis of 13 airlines with the low-cost business model that was fully accessible to financial data for the 2004-2017 period. Panel data analysis was used in the study and Altman (1968) Z-Score and Springate (1978) S-Score were used in measuring financial risk. Empirical findings of the study reveal that firm leverage, asset structure, firm size, firm profitability, and liquidity ratio have an effect on financial risk.