IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/irv/wpaper/091004.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Carve-Outs Under Airline Antitrust Immunity

Author

Listed:
  • Jan K. Brueckner

    (Department of Economics, University of California-Irvine)

  • Stef Proost

    (Center for Economic Studies, KULeuven)

Abstract

This paper offers the first formal economic analysis of carve-outs under airline antitrust immunity. Carve-outs are designed to limit the potential anticompetitive effects of cooperation by alliance partners in hub-to-hub markets, where they provide overlapping nonstop service. While the paper shows that carve-outs are beneficial when the alliance does not involve full integration of the partners' operations on the hub-to-hub route, its key point is that a carve-out may be harmful when imposed on a joint-venture alliance. A JV alliance involves full exploitation of economies of traffic density on the hub-to-hub route, and a carve-out prevents the realization of these benefits. While a carve-out may limit anticompetitive incentives on the hub-to-hub route, welfare may be reduced if the resulting gains are overshadowed by the efficiency loss generated by the carve-out.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan K. Brueckner & Stef Proost, 2009. "Carve-Outs Under Airline Antitrust Immunity," Working Papers 091004, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:irv:wpaper:091004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.economics.uci.edu/files/docs/workingpapers/2009-10/brueckner-4.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan K. Brueckner, 2003. "International Airfares in the Age of Alliances: The Effects of Codesharing and Antitrust Immunity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(1), pages 105-118, February.
    2. Philippe Barla & Christos Constantatos, 2006. "On The Choice between Strategic Alliance and Merger in the Airline Sector: The Role of Strategic Effects," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 40(3), pages 409-424, September.
    3. Park, Jong-Hun & Park, Namgyoo K. & Zhang, Anming, 2003. "The impact of international alliances on rival firm value: a study of the British Airways/USAir Alliance," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 1-18, January.
    4. 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.
    5. Oum, Tae Hoon & Yu, Chunyan & Zhang, Anming, 2001. "Global airline alliances: international regulatory issues," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 57-62.
    6. De Borger, B. & Dunkerley, F. & Proost, S., 2007. "Strategic investment and pricing decisions in a congested transport corridor," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 294-316, September.
    7. Volodymyr Bilotkach, 2005. "Price Competition between International Airline Alliances," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 39(2), pages 167-190, May.
    8. Bamberger, Gustavo E & Carlton, Dennis W & Neumann, Lynette R, 2004. "An Empirical Investigation of the Competitive Effects of Domestic Airline Alliances," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(1), pages 195-222, April.
    9. 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.
    10. Park, Jong-Hun & Zhang, Anming, 1998. "Airline alliances and partner firms' outputs," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 245-255, December.
    11. W. Whalen, 2007. "A panel data analysis of code-sharing, antitrust immunity, and open skies treaties in international aviation markets," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 30(1), pages 39-61, February.
    12. Bruno De Borger & Stef Proost & Kurt Van Dender, 2008. "Private Port Pricing and Public Investment in Port and Hinterland Capacity," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 42(3), pages 527-561, September.
    13. Philip G. Gayle, 2007. "Airline Code-Share Alliances and Their Competitive Effects," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(4), pages 781-819.
    14. 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.
    15. Philip G. Gayle, 2008. "An Empirical Analysis of the Competitive Effects of the Delta/Continental/Northwest Code-Share Alliance," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(4), pages 743-766, November.
    16. 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.
    17. Chen, Yongmin & Gayle, Philip G., 2007. "Vertical contracting between airlines: An equilibrium analysis of codeshare alliances," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 1046-1060, October.
    18. Ricardo Flores-Fillol & Rafael Moner-Colonques, 2007. "Strategic Formation of Airline Alliances," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 41(3), pages 427-449, September.
    19. Orit Hassin & Oz Shy, 2004. "Code‐sharing Agreements and Interconnections in Markets for International Flights," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 337-352, August.
    20. Volodymyr Bilotkach, 2007. "Airline Partnerships and Schedule Coordination," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 41(3), pages 413-425, September.
    21. Park, Jong-Hun, 1997. "The effects of airline alliances on markets and economic welfare," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 181-195, September.
    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. Brueckner Jan K. & Picard Pierre M., 2013. "Airline Alliances, Carve-Outs and Collusion," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(2), pages 211-227, June.
    2. Brueckner, Jan K. & Flores-Fillol, Ricardo, 2020. "Market structure and quality determination for complementary products: Alliances and service quality in the airline industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    3. Volodymyr Bilotkach, 2019. "Airline Partnerships, Antitrust Immunity, and Joint Ventures: What We Know and What I Think We Would Like to Know," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 54(1), pages 37-60, February.
    4. 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.
    5. Calzada, Joan & Fageda, Xavier & Safronov, Roman, 2022. "How do global airline alliances affect flight frequency? Evidence from Russia," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    6. Bilotkach, Volodymyr & Hüschelrath, Kai, 2019. "Balancing competition and cooperation: Evidence from transatlantic airline markets," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 1-16.
    7. Menezes Bezerra Sampaio, Raquel & Urdanoz, Miguel, 2022. "Airlines' cooperation in the US domestic market: Measuring the evolution of price gaps," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 424-443.
    8. Le, Huubinh B. & Yimga, Jules O., 2023. "Codeshare restrictions as antitrust remedy," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 17-24.
    9. Zhang, Anming & Czerny, Achim I., 2012. "Airports and airlines economics and policy: An interpretive review of recent research," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 15-34.
    10. Yimga, Jules, 2022. "Code-sharing agreements and path quality in the US airline industry," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 369-385.
    11. Gayle Philip G. & Thomas Tyson, 2015. "Product Quality Effects of International Airline Alliances, Antitrust Immunity, and Domestic Mergers," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 45-74, March.
    12. Czerny, Achim I. & Jost, Peter-J. & Lang, Hao & Mantin, Benny, 2021. "Carrier collaboration with endogenous networks: Or, the limits of what carrier collaboration can achieve under antitrust immunity," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    13. Chun, So Yeon & Kleywegt, Anton J & Shapiro, Alexander, 2011. "Revenue management in resource exchange seller alliances," MPRA Paper 34657, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Adler, Nicole & Mantin, Benny, 2015. "Government and company contracts: The effect on service and prices in international airline markets," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 166-177.
    15. 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.
    16. Xia, Wenyi & Zhang, Anming, 2016. "High-speed rail and air transport competition and cooperation: A vertical differentiation approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 456-481.
    17. Yimga, Jules O., 2017. "Airline code-sharing and its effects on on-time performance," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 76-90.
    18. Bilotkach, Volodymyr & Hüschelrath, Kai, 2012. "Airline alliances and antitrust policy: The role of efficiencies," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 76-84.
    19. Yimga, Jules, 2018. "Domestic code-sharing agreements and on-time performance: Evidence from the US airline industry," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 14-27.
    20. Gayle, Philip G. & Thomas, Tyson, 2016. "Assessing firm behavior in carve-out markets: Evidence on the impact of carve-out policy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 178-194.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Carve-out; Antitrust immunity; Airline alliances;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L4 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies
    • L9 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:irv:wpaper:091004. 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: Melissa Valdez (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deucius.html .

    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.