IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v63y2018icp165-175.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What drives effective competition in the airline industry? An empirical model of city-pair market concentration

Author

Listed:
  • Oliveira, Marcus V.R.
  • Oliveira, Alessandro V.M.

Abstract

Market concentration is a widely recognized metric for assessing effective competition, as it provides a quantification of the relative success of large, mid-sized and smaller firms in the battle for consumers. Concentration has been a public policy issue in the airline industry since deregulation, due to the long-standing airport dominance by major carriers, which is a concern that is recurrently intensified by merger announcements. This paper develops an empirical model to examine the evolution of concentration in the airline markets. We analyze the case of the Brazilian airline industry, in which the two major carriers acquired a combined market share of more than 90% in the late 2000s and have experienced a sharp reversion since then. We test hypotheses regarding the association of market concentration with market size and service quality, as well as the impacts of vertical relationships after airport privatization. Our results suggest that the entry-attraction effect of market size more than compensates for the economies-of-density effect, while the vertical product differentiation created by the strategic investment in capacity is a key driver of concentration in the airline industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Oliveira, Marcus V.R. & Oliveira, Alessandro V.M., 2018. "What drives effective competition in the airline industry? An empirical model of city-pair market concentration," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 165-175.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:63:y:2018:i:c:p:165-175
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2017.12.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X16307053
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2017.12.021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barbot, Cristina & D’Alfonso, Tiziana & Malighetti, Paolo & Redondi, Renato, 2013. "Vertical collusion between airports and airlines: An empirical test for the European case," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 3-15.
    2. Tiziana D'alfonso & Alberto Nastasi, 2014. "Airport-Airline interaction: some food for thought," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(6), pages 730-748, November.
    3. Charles Boguslaski & Harumi Ito & Darin Lee, 2004. "Entry Patterns in the Southwest Airlines Route System," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 25(3), pages 317-350, August.
    4. Jerry A. Hausman, 1996. "Valuation of New Goods under Perfect and Imperfect Competition," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of New Goods, pages 207-248, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Hofer, Christian & Windle, Robert J. & Dresner, Martin E., 2008. "Price premiums and low cost carrier competition," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(5), pages 864-882, September.
    6. Berry, Steven T, 1992. "Estimation of a Model of Entry in the Airline Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(4), pages 889-917, July.
    7. Christopher F Baum & Mark E. Schaffer & Steven Stillman, 2007. "Enhanced routines for instrumental variables/GMM estimation and testing," CERT Discussion Papers 0706, Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation, Heriot Watt University.
    8. Jan K. Brueckner, 2002. "Airport Congestion When Carriers Have Market Power," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1357-1375, December.
    9. Christopher F Baum & Mark E. Schaffer & Steven Stillman, 2007. "Enhanced routines for instrumental variables/generalized method of moments estimation and testing," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(4), pages 465-506, December.
    10. Kreps, David M. & Wilson, Robert, 1982. "Reputation and imperfect information," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 253-279, August.
    11. Panzar, John C., 1989. "Technological determinants of firm and industry structure," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 3-59, Elsevier.
    12. Oliveira, Alessandro V.M. & Huse, Cristian, 2009. "Localized competitive advantage and price reactions to entry: Full-service vs. low-cost airlines in recently liberalized emerging markets," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 307-320, March.
    13. Andrew M. Cohen & Michael Mazzeo, 2004. "Competition, product differentiation and quality provision: an empirical equilibrium analysis of bank branching decisions," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2004-46, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    14. Timothy Bresnahan & Jonathan Levin, 2012. "Vertical Integration and Market Structure [The Handbook of Organizational Economics]," Introductory Chapters,, Princeton University Press.
    15. Enrico Bachis & Claudio A. Piga, 2006. "Hub Premium, Airport Dominance and Market Power in the European Airline Industry," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 96(5), pages 11-54, September.
    16. Avinash Dixit, 1979. "A Model of Duopoly Suggesting a Theory of Entry Barriers," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 20-32, Spring.
    17. Spiller, Pablo T, 1983. "The Differential Impact of Airline Regulation on Individual Firms and Markets: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(3), pages 655-689, October.
    18. Windle, Robert & Dresner, Martin, 1999. "Competitive responses to low cost carrier entry," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 59-75, March.
    19. Cristina Barbot, 2011. "Vertical Contracts between Airports and Airlines Is there a Trade-off between Welfare and Competitiveness?," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 45(2), pages 277-302, May.
    20. Bilotkach, Volodymyr & Lakew, Paulos Ashebir, 2014. "On sources of market power in the airline industry: Panel data evidence from the US airports," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 288-305.
    21. Xiaowen Fu & Mark Lijesen & Tae H. Oum, 2006. "An Analysis of Airport Pricing and Regulation in the Presence of Competition Between Full Service Airlines and Low Cost Carriers," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 40(3), pages 425-447, September.
    22. Federico Ciliberto & Jonathan W. Williams, 2010. "Limited Access to Airport Facilities and Market Power in the Airline Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(3), pages 467-495.
    23. Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1982. "Predation, reputation, and entry deterrence," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 280-312, August.
    24. Bresnahan, Timothy F., 1989. "Empirical studies of industries with market power," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 17, pages 1011-1057, Elsevier.
    25. Christopher Mayer & Todd Sinai, 2003. "Network Effects, Congestion Externalities, and Air Traffic Delays: Or Why Not All Delays Are Evil," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1194-1215, September.
    26. Ater, Itai, 2012. "Internalization of congestion at US hub airports," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 196-209.
    27. Volodymyr Bilotkach, 2011. "Multimarket Contact and Intensity of Competition: Evidence from an Airline Merger," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 38(1), pages 95-115, January.
    28. John Kwoka & Evgenia Shumilkina, 2010. "The Price Effect Of Eliminating Potential Competition: Evidence From An Airline Merger," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 767-793, December.
    29. Demsetz, Harold, 1973. "Industry Structure, Market Rivalry, and Public Policy," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 1-9, April.
    30. Brueckner, Jan K. & Lee, Darin & Singer, Ethan S., 2013. "Airline competition and domestic US airfares: A comprehensivereappraisal," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-17.
    31. Severin Borenstein, 1989. "Hubs and High Fares: Dominance and Market Power in the U.S. Airline Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(3), pages 344-365, Autumn.
    32. Christopher F Baum, 2008. "Stata tip 63: Modeling proportions," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(2), pages 299-303, June.
    33. Evans, William N & Froeb, Luke M & Werden, Gregory J, 1993. "Endogeneity in the Concentration-Price Relationship: Causes, Consequences, and Cures," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 431-438, December.
    34. Brueckner, Jan K & Spiller, Pablo T, 1994. "Economies of Traffic Density in the Deregulated Airline Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(2), pages 379-415, October.
    35. Salop, Steven C & Scheffman, David T, 1983. "Raising Rivals' Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(2), pages 267-271, May.
    36. A. Michael Spence, 1977. "Entry, Capacity, Investment and Oligopolistic Pricing," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 8(2), pages 534-544, Autumn.
    37. Schmalensee, Richard, 1989. "Inter-industry studies of structure and performance," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 16, pages 951-1009, Elsevier.
    38. Jan K. Brueckner, 2010. "Schedule Competition Revisited," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 44(3), pages 261-285, September.
    39. Aghion, Philippe & Bolton, Patrick, 1987. "Contracts as a Barrier to Entry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(3), pages 388-401, June.
    40. Michael Mazzeo, 2003. "Competition and Service Quality in the U.S. Airline Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 22(4), pages 275-296, June.
    41. Greenfield, Daniel, 2014. "Competition and service quality: New evidence from the airline industry," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 80-89.
    42. Fu, Xiaowen & Homsombat, Winai & Oum, Tae H., 2011. "Airport–airline vertical relationships, their effects and regulatory policy implications," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 347-353.
    43. Bendinelli, William E. & Bettini, Humberto F.A.J. & Oliveira, Alessandro V.M., 2016. "Airline delays, congestion internalization and non-price spillover effects of low cost carrier entry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 39-52.
    44. Evans, William N & Kessides, Ioannis N, 1993. "Localized Market Power in the U.S. Airline Industry," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 75(1), pages 66-75, February.
    45. Steven A. Morrison, 2001. "Actual, Adjacent, and Potential Competition Estimating the Full Effect of Southwest Airlines," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 35(2), pages 239-256, May.
    46. Douglas W. Caves & Laurits R. Christensen & Michael W. Tretheway, 1984. "Economies of Density versus Economies of Scale: Why Trunk and Local Service Airline Costs Differ," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 15(4), pages 471-489, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gudmundsson, Sveinn Vidar & Merkert, Rico & Redondi, Renato, 2020. "Cost structure effects of horizontal airline mergers and acquisitions," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 136-144.
    2. Grosche, Tobias & Klophaus, Richard & Seredyński, Adam, 2020. "Market concentration in German air transport before and after the Air Berlin bankruptcy," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 78-88.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Miranda, Victor A.P. & Oliveira, Alessandro V.M., 2018. "Airport slots and the internalization of congestion by airlines: An empirical model of integrated flight disruption management in Brazil," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 201-219.
    2. Gil, Ricard & Kim, Myongjin, 2021. "Does competition increase quality? Evidence from the US airline industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    3. Fu, Xiaowen & Jin, Huan & Liu, Shaoxuan & Oum, Tae H. & Yan, Jia, 2019. "Exploring network effects of point-to-point networks: An investigation of the spatial patterns of Southwest Airlines’ network," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 36-45.
    4. Gayle, Philip G. & Wu, Chi-Yin, 2013. "A re-examination of incumbents’ response to the threat of entry: Evidence from the airline industry," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 119-130.
    5. Bendinelli, William E. & Bettini, Humberto F.A.J. & Oliveira, Alessandro V.M., 2016. "Airline delays, congestion internalization and non-price spillover effects of low cost carrier entry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 39-52.
    6. Bettini, Humberto F.A.J. & Silveira, José Maria F.J. & Oliveira, Alessandro V.M., 2018. "Estimating strategic responses to the march of a low cost carrier to primary airports," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 190-204.
    7. William E. Bendinelli & Humberto F. A. J. Bettini & Alessandro V. M. Oliveira, 2024. "Airline delays, congestion internalization and non-price spillover effects of low cost carrier entry," Papers 2401.09174, arXiv.org.
    8. Brito, Igor R.S. & Oliveira, Alessandro V.M. & Dresner, Martin E., 2021. "An econometric study of the effects of airport privatization on airfares in Brazil," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 338-349.
    9. Fageda, Xavier, 2014. "What hurts the dominant airlines at hub airports?," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 177-189.
    10. Jia Yan & Xiaowen Fu & Tae Oum, 2008. "Exploring Network Effects of Point-to-Point Networks: An Investigation of the Spatial Entry Patterns of Southwest Airlines," Working Papers 2008-21, School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University.
    11. Bilotkach, Volodymyr & Lakew, Paulos Ashebir, 2014. "On sources of market power in the airline industry: Panel data evidence from the US airports," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 288-305.
    12. Du, Yan & McMullen, B. Starr & Kerkvliet, Joe R., 2008. "The economic impact of the ATA/Southwest Airlines code-share agreement," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 51-60.
    13. Weekx, Simon & Buyle, Sven, 2023. "The effect of airline dominance on airport performance: Empirical evidence from medium-sized European airports," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    14. Ishii, Jun & Jun, Sunyoung & Van Dender, Kurt, 2009. "Air travel choices in multi-airport markets," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 216-227, March.
    15. Varella, Rafael R. & Frazão, Jessica & Oliveira, Alessandro V.M., 2017. "Dynamic pricing and market segmentation responses to low-cost carrier entry," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 151-170.
    16. Bet, Germán, 2021. "Product specification under a threat of entry: Evidence from Airlines’ departure times," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    17. Kang Hua Cao & Betty Krier & Chia-Mei Liu & Brian McNamara & Jerrod Sharpe, 2017. "The Nonlinear Effects of Market Structure on Service Quality: Evidence from the U.S. Airline Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 51(1), pages 43-73, August.
    18. Chen, Ruowei & Lei, Zheng, 2017. "Airport dominance and airline pricing power: An investigation of hub premiums in the Chinese domestic market," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 509-524.
    19. Guo, Huanxiu & Jiang, Changmin & Wan, Yulai, 2018. "Can airfares tell? An alternative empirical strategy for airport congestion internalization," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 648-661.
    20. Bettini, Humberto F.A.J. & Oliveira, Alessandro V.M., 2016. "Two-sided platforms in airport privatization," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 262-278.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Airlines; Herfindahl-Hirschman index; Market concentration; Airport privatization; D22; L11; L93;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L93 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Air Transportation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:63:y:2018:i:c:p:165-175. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.