IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jlawec/v43y2000i2p503-45.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Price Effects of International Airline Alliances

Author

Listed:
  • Brueckner, Jan K
  • Whalen, W Tom

Abstract

This paper provides evidence on the effect of international airline alliances on fares. The main finding is that alliance partners charge interline fares that are approximately 25 percent below those charged by nonallied carriers. According to our theoretical model, the main source of this fare reduction is the internalization of a negative externality that arises from the uncoordinated choice of interline "subfares" in the absence of an alliance. The paper also looks for evidence of an anti-competitive alliance effect in the gateway-to-gateway markets. While the point estimates show that an alliance between two previously competitive carriers would raise fares by about 5 percent, this effect is not statistically significant. Copyright 2000 by the University of Chicago.

Suggested Citation

  • Brueckner, Jan K & Whalen, W Tom, 2000. "The Price Effects of International Airline Alliances," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 43(2), pages 503-545, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlawec:v:43:y:2000:i:2:p:503-45
    DOI: 10.1086/467464
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/467464
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/467464?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. Ken Hendricks & Michele Piccione & Guofu Tan, 1995. "The Economics of Hubs: The Case of Monopoly," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 62(1), pages 83-99.
    2. 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.
    3. Brueckner, Jan K. & Spiller, Pablo T., 1991. "Competition and mergers in airline networks," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 323-342, September.
    4. 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.
    5. Jong-Hun Park & Anming Zhang, 2000. "An Empirical Analysis of Global Airline Alliances: Cases in North Atlantic Markets," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 16(4), pages 367-384, June.
    6. Youssef, Waleed & Hansen, Mark, 1994. "Consequences of strategic alliances between international airlines: The case of Swissair and SAS," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 415-431, September.
    7. 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)

    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. Anming Zhang & Yimin Zhang & Joseph A. Clougherty, 2011. "Competition and Regulation in Air Transport," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 35, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Brueckner, Jan K., 2001. "The economics of international codesharing: an analysis of airline alliances," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(10), pages 1475-1498, December.
    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. 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.
    5. Lin, Ming Hsin & Zhang, Anming, 2016. "Hub congestion pricing: Discriminatory passenger charges," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 5(C), pages 37-48.
    6. Brueckner, Jan K. & Pels, Eric, 2005. "European airline mergers, alliance consolidation, and consumer welfare," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 27-41.
    7. Pels, Eric, 2021. "Optimality of the hub-spoke system: A review of the literature, and directions for future research," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 1-10.
    8. Jiang, Changmin & Zhang, Anming, 2014. "Effects of high-speed rail and airline cooperation under hub airport capacity constraint," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 33-49.
    9. Yanhao Wei, 2018. "Airline networks, traffic densities, and value of links," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 341-370, September.
    10. Dunn, Abe, 2008. "Do low-quality products affect high-quality entry? Multiproduct firms and nonstop entry in airline markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 1074-1089, September.
    11. Jan K. Brueckner, 2004. "Network Structure and Airline Scheduling," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 291-312, June.
    12. Alderighi, Marco & Gaggero, Alberto A. & Piga, Claudio A., 2015. "The effect of code-share agreements on the temporal profile of airline fares," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 42-54.
    13. Park, Jong-Hun & Zhang, Anming & Zhang, Yimin, 2001. "Analytical models of international alliances in the airline industry," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 865-886, November.
    14. Joseph A. Clougherty, 2006. "The international drivers of domestic airline mergers in twenty nations: integrating industrial organization and international business," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 75-93.
    15. Yan, Jia & Fu, Xiaowen & Oum, Tae Hoon & Wang, Kun, 2019. "Airline horizontal mergers and productivity: Empirical evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 358-376.
    16. Kai Hüschelrath & Kathrin Müller, 2014. "Airline Networks, Mergers, and Consumer Welfare," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 48(3), pages 385-407, September.
    17. Lazzarini, Sergio G., 2002. "The Performance Implications of Membership in Competing Firm Constellations: Evidence from the Global Airline Industry," Insper Working Papers wpe_23, Insper Working Paper, Insper Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa.
    18. 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.
    19. Luttmann, Alexander, 2019. "Are passengers compensated for incurring an airport layover? Estimating the value of layover time in the U.S. airline industry," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 1-13.
    20. Yetiskul, Emine & Matsushima, Kakuya & Kobayashi, Kiyoshi, 2005. "Airline Network Structure with Thick Market Externality," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 143-163, January.

    More about this item

    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:ucp:jlawec:v:43:y:2000:i:2:p:503-45. 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: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JLE .

    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.