Average stage length. Average stage length for an airline is defined as the average distance flown on non-stop trips.
The core LCC model, as pioneered by Southwest, is based on short- and medium-haul flights that allow quick
turnaround times. There are however important exceptions from this pattern. For example, relatively new LCCs like
JetBlue and Virgin America flew non-stop distances longer than 1,000 miles from the very beginning. This can be
attributed in part to the increased availability of adequate aircraft and the increased presence of LCCs at
international vacation destinations. On the other hand, Southwest has been only slowly increasing the average length
of their non-stop flights and is currently at the bottom of the distribution according to this measure. Figure 3