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Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate air passengers' choice of the access mode at low-cost airports, with the aim of supporting policy makers in evaluating improvements to the current ground access transport system. We assess the impact of the introduction of a new direct rail service on the airport's accessibility by passengers, relying on revealed preference data collected at the Milan-Bergamo airport in the period 2013–2016. We first implement a mixed logit model to examine the behavior of outgoing passengers and evaluate their sensitivity to various access time components and cost incurred. Second, based on the estimated coefficients, the introduction of direct rail services from/to Milan is assessed by means of a sensitivity analysis. Results show that low-cost airports should be aware of customers' priorities and not simply aim to deliver the solution with the lowest possible cost. The estimated value of time measures—equal to €40/h, €24/h, and €19/h for traffic, out-of-vehicle travel time, and in-vehicle travel time, respectively—reveal that low-cost airline passengers are not exclusively cost-driven when confronted with the access mode choice but do place considerable value on access time savings. This finding is corroborated by the assessment of different rail services, showing how the introduction of an airport express train has the potential to increase train usage much more (+7%) than the extension of the existing regional commuter service (+1%). Highlights • Air passengers' access mode choice to low-cost airports is investigated by implementing a mixed logit model. • The introduction of a new direct rail service is assessed through a sensitivity analysis. • Low-cost airline passengers are not low-cost consumers when it comes to the access mode choice. • An airport express train can increase rail usage much more (+7%) than the extension of regional commuter service (+1%). • Landside planning at low cost airports should be aware of customers' priorities and consider the changing customer mix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]