The incentives for over-investment may be attributed to the method used to regulate airports. In
this sense, (Niemeier 2009) argues that cost-based regulation is a major cause of the poor
performance of airports, in that it results in incentives for gold-plating, high costs and high
charges for airlines and passengers.
In today's airport business, two main terminal types can be distinguished, namely, traditional
terminals and low-cost terminals. Whereas the traditional terminal can be defined as a terminal
designed to process the flights and passengers associated with the operation of NCs with full
service facilities, the low cost terminal can be thought of as an airport terminal that has been
developed with low capital investment cost and with the aim of reducing costs and increasing
efficiency
In choosing which airports and airport terminals to operate from, the low cost carriers bring into
consideration a lot of different factors before making a decision. Quite often, these decisions
differ from one airline to another, in line with their policies and preferences. For Ryanair, airport
choice factors include low airport charges, quick turnarounds, simple terminals, rapid check-in
facilities, good passenger facilities and accessibility.