IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v164y2025icp80-91.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing airports’ bargaining power: Evidence from U.S. airports using a two-tier stochastic frontier analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Karanki, Fecri
  • Yu, Chunyan

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing expectation for U.S. airports to achieve financial self-sufficiency, prompting increased reliance on lucrative non-aeronautical revenue sources. These revenues depend on the demand for aeronautical services, as they are intricately tied to passenger traffic. Consequently, airports have intensified efforts to boost air traffic, a challenging task given the mobility of footloose airlines. This competitive environment compels airports to adopt strategic measures with competitive pricing emerging as a critical approach in the capital-intensive airport industry. This study examines the dynamic relationships between airlines and airports, focusing on their respective bargaining positions and financial gains they extract. Using a two-tier stochastic frontier (2TSF) analysis on data for 59 U.S. airports during the 2009–2019 period, this study quantifies the gap between optimal and actual aeronautical charges while identifying determinants of bargaining power such as low-cost carrier (LCC) dominance, legacy airline hub status, proximity to competing airports, airline concentration, percentage of local passengers, and rate setting methods. Results indicate that airlines hold stronger bargaining positions with financial gains 8.4% higher than those of airports, which leads to aeronautical charges being set below optimal levels. Medium-sized airports achieve relatively higher gains compared to large airports, and airports within multi-airport systems (MAS) enjoy a greater bargaining advantage. In contrast, rival airports within a 100-mile radius reduce an individual airport's bargaining leverage, highlighting the competitive pressures faced by U.S. airports despite their public ownership. Socio-economic factors, such as tourism and foreign direct investment (FDI), significantly increase airport fees by enhancing the value of their services to airlines.

Suggested Citation

  • Karanki, Fecri & Yu, Chunyan, 2025. "Assessing airports’ bargaining power: Evidence from U.S. airports using a two-tier stochastic frontier analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 80-91.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:164:y:2025:i:c:p:80-91
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2025.01.036
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X25000423
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2025.01.036?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. Subal Kumbhakar & Christopher Parmeter, 2010. "Estimation of hedonic price functions with incomplete information," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 1-25, August.
    2. Polk, Andreas & Bilotkach, Volodymyr, 2013. "The assessment of market power of hub airports," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 29-37.
    3. Pavlyuk, Dmitry, 2012. "Airport Benchmarking and Spatial Competition: a Critical Review," MPRA Paper 43391, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. 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.
    5. Karanki, Fecri & Lim, Siew Hoon & Choi, Bong Jin, 2020. "The determinants of aeronautical charges of U.S. airports: A spatial analysis," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    6. Patrick McCarthy, 2014. "US Airport Costs and Production Technology A Translog Cost Function Analysis," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 48(3), pages 427-447, September.
    7. Basar, Gözen & Bhat, Chandra, 2004. "A parameterized consideration set model for airport choice: an application to the San Francisco Bay Area," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 889-904, December.
    8. Hadri, Kaddour, 1999. "Estimation of a Doubly Heteroscedastic Stochastic Frontier Cost Function," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 17(3), pages 359-363, July.
    9. Jan K. Brueckner, 2002. "Airport Congestion When Carriers Have Market Power," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1357-1375, December.
    10. Bergantino, Angela Stefania & Intini, Mario & Volta, Nicola, 2021. "The spatial dimension of competition among airports at the worldwide level: a spatial stochastic frontier analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 295(1), pages 118-130.
    11. Raghavan, Sunder & Yu, Chunyan, 2021. "Evaluating financial performance of commercial service airports in the United States," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    12. Hung-jen Wang & Peter Schmidt, 2002. "One-Step and Two-Step Estimation of the Effects of Exogenous Variables on Technical Efficiency Levels," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 129-144, September.
    13. Malighetti, G & Martini, G & Paleari, S & Redondi, R, 2009. "The Impacts of Airport Centrality in the EU Network and Inter- Airport Competition on Airport Efficiency," MPRA Paper 17673, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Daniel, Joseph I., 2001. "Distributional Consequences of Airport Congestion Pricing," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 230-258, September.
    15. Jean Tirole, 1988. "The Theory of Industrial Organization," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262200716, December.
    16. Scotti, Davide & Malighetti, Paolo & Martini, Gianmaria & Volta, Nicola, 2012. "The impact of airport competition on technical efficiency: A stochastic frontier analysis applied to Italian airport," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 9-15.
    17. Czerny, Achim I. & Zhang, Anming, 2014. "Airport congestion pricing when airlines price discriminate," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 77-89.
    18. Nicholas G. Rupp & Kerry M. Tan, 2019. "Mergers And Product Quality: A Silver Lining From De‐Hubbing In The U.S. Airline Industry," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 37(4), pages 652-672, October.
    19. Van Dender, Kurt, 2007. "Determinants of fares and operating revenues at US airports," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 317-336, September.
    20. Subal Kumbhakar & Christopher Parmeter, 2009. "The effects of match uncertainty and bargaining on labor market outcomes: evidence from firm and worker specific estimates," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 1-14, February.
    21. S.C. Littlechild & G.F. Thompson, 1977. "Aircraft Landing Fees: A Game Theory Approach," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 8(1), pages 186-204, Spring.
    22. Kumbhakar, Subal C & Ghosh, Soumendra & McGuckin, J Thomas, 1991. "A Generalized Production Frontier Approach for Estimating Determinants of Inefficiency in U.S. Dairy Farms," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 9(3), pages 279-286, July.
    23. Karanki, Fecri, 2024. "Cross-subsidization and U.S. airports," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 150-160.
    24. Polachek, Solomon W & Yoon, Bong Joon, 1987. "A Two-tiered Earnings Frontier Estimation of Employer and Employee Information in the Labor Market," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 69(2), pages 296-302, May.
    25. Barrett, Sean D, 2000. "Airport competition in the deregulated European aviation market," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 13-27.
    26. Barbot, Cristina & D'Alfonso, Tiziana, 2014. "Why do contracts between airlines and airports fail?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 34-41.
    27. Kumbhakar,Subal C. & Wang,Hung-Jen & Horncastle,Alan P., 2015. "A Practitioner's Guide to Stochastic Frontier Analysis Using Stata," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107609464, June.
    28. Azadian, Farshid & Vasigh, Bijan, 2019. "The blurring lines between full-service network carriers and low-cost carriers: A financial perspective on business model convergence," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 19-26.
    29. Battese, G E & Coelli, T J, 1995. "A Model for Technical Inefficiency Effects in a Stochastic Frontier Production Function for Panel Data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 325-332.
    30. Hung-Jen Wang, 2002. "Heteroscedasticity and Non-Monotonic Efficiency Effects of a Stochastic Frontier Model," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 241-253, November.
    31. Wiltshire, James, 2018. "Airport competition: Reality or myth?," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 241-248.
    32. Volodymyr Bilotkach & Joseph Clougherty & Juergen Mueller & Anming Zhang, 2012. "Regulation, privatization, and airport charges: panel data evidence from European airports," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 73-94, August.
    33. Alecos Papadopoulos, 2021. "The Two-Tier Stochastic Frontier Framework (2TSF): Measuring Frontiers Wherever They May Exist," Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics, in: Christopher F. Parmeter & Robin C. Sickles (ed.), Advances in Efficiency and Productivity Analysis, pages 163-194, Springer.
    34. Colak, Ozlem & Enoch, Marcus & Morton, Craig, 2023. "Airport business models and the COVID-19 pandemic: An exploration of the UK case study," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    35. Fröhlich, Karsten & Niemeier, Hans-Martin, 2011. "The importance of spatial economics for assessing airport competition," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 44-48.
    36. Gillen, David, 2011. "The evolution of airport ownership and governance," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 3-13.
    37. Bachwich, Alexander R. & Wittman, Michael D., 2017. "The emergence and effects of the ultra-low cost carrier (ULCC) business model in the U.S. airline industry," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 155-164.
    38. Stephane Hess & John W. Polak, 2006. "Airport, airline and access mode choice in the San Francisco Bay area," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 85(4), pages 543-567, November.
    39. Wei, Fangwu & Grubesic, Tony H., 2015. "The dehubbing Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG): A spatiotemporal panorama," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 85-98.
    40. Simar, Leopold & Wilson, Paul W., 2007. "Estimation and inference in two-stage, semi-parametric models of production processes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 31-64, January.
    41. Czerny, Achim I. & Cowan, Simon & Zhang, Anming, 2017. "How to mix per-flight and per-passenger based airport charges: The oligopoly case," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 483-500.
    42. Adler, Nicole & Liebert, Vanessa, 2014. "Joint impact of competition, ownership form and economic regulation on airport performance and pricing," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 92-109.
    43. Ivaldi, Marc & Sokullu, Senay & Toru-Delibasi, Tuba, 2015. "Airport Prices in a Two-Sided Market Setting: Major US Airports," TSE Working Papers 15-587, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    44. Pels, Eric & Njegovan, Nenad & Behrens, Christiaan, 2009. "Low-cost airlines and airport competition," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 335-344, March.
    45. Tavalaei, M. Mahdi & Santalo, Juan, 2019. "Pure versus hybrid competitive strategies in the airport industry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 444-455.
    46. Zhang, Anming & Zhang, Yimin, 1997. "Concession revenue and optimal airport pricing," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 287-296, December.
    47. Karanki, Fecri & Lim, Siew Hoon, 2023. "Spatial dependence and competition between U.S. airports," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    48. Jan K. Brueckner & Yimin Zhang, 2001. "A Model of Scheduling in Airline Networks: How a Hub-and-Spoke System Affects Flight Frequency, Fares and Welfare," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 35(2), pages 195-222, May.
    49. Caudill, Steven B & Ford, Jon M & Gropper, Daniel M, 1995. "Frontier Estimation and Firm-Specific Inefficiency Measures in the Presence of Heteroscedasticity," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(1), pages 105-111, January.
    50. Martín, Juan Carlos & Pilar Socorro, M., 2009. "A new era for airport regulators through capacity investments," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(6), pages 618-625, July.
    51. Starkie, David, 2002. "Airport regulation and competition," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 63-72.
    52. Graham, Anne, 2013. "Understanding the low cost carrier and airport relationship: A critical analysis of the salient issues," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 66-76.
    53. Thelle, Martin H. & Sonne, Mie la Cour, 2018. "Airport competition in Europe," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 232-240.
    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. Zhang, Wei & Li, Chengjiang & Jia, Tingwen & Wang, Shiyuan & Hao, Qianwen & Yang, Jing, 2025. "Evolutionary game analysis of sustainable aviation fuel promotion," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).

    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. Karanki, Fecri, 2024. "Cross-subsidization and U.S. airports," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 150-160.
    2. Subal C. Kumbhakar & Christopher F. Parmeter & Valentin Zelenyuk, 2022. "Stochastic Frontier Analysis: Foundations and Advances I," Springer Books, in: Subhash C. Ray & Robert G. Chambers & Subal C. Kumbhakar (ed.), Handbook of Production Economics, chapter 8, pages 331-370, Springer.
    3. Karanki, Fecri & Lien, Gudbrand, 2024. "Persistent and transient inefficiencies in the U.S. airline industry," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 254-265.
    4. Narangerel Ganbold & Shah Fahad & Hua Li & Tumendemberel Gungaa, 2022. "An evaluation of subsidy policy impacts, transient and persistent technical efficiency: A case of Mongolia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(7), pages 9223-9242, July.
    5. Karanki, Fecri & Lim, Siew Hoon & Choi, Bong Jin, 2020. "The determinants of aeronautical charges of U.S. airports: A spatial analysis," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    6. Dipanwita Sarkar & Trevor C. Collier, 2019. "Does host-country education mitigate immigrant inefficiency? Evidence from earnings of Australian university graduates," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 81-106, January.
    7. Tavalaei, M. Mahdi & Santalo, Juan, 2019. "Pure versus hybrid competitive strategies in the airport industry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 444-455.
    8. Paul, Satya & Shankar, Sriram, 2018. "Modelling Efficiency Effects in a True Fixed Effects Stochastic Frontier," MPRA Paper 87437, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Satya Paul & Sriram Shankar, 2020. "Estimating efficiency effects in a panel data stochastic frontier model," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 163-180, April.
    10. Efecan, Volkan & Temiz, İzzettin, 2023. "Assessing the technical efficiency of container ports based on a non-monotonic inefficiency effects model," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    11. 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.
    12. Bergantino, Angela Stefania & Intini, Mario & Volta, Nicola, 2021. "The spatial dimension of competition among airports at the worldwide level: a spatial stochastic frontier analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 295(1), pages 118-130.
    13. Kenneth Button, 2020. "Studying the empirical implications of the liberalization of airport markets," Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, , vol. 21(3), pages 223-243, September.
    14. Paul, Satya & Shankar, Sriram, 2018. "On estimating efficiency effects in a stochastic frontier model," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 271(2), pages 769-774.
    15. Ajayi, Victor & Weyman-Jones, Tom, 2021. "State-level electricity generation efficiency: Do restructuring and regulatory institutions matter in the US?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    16. Christopher F. Parmeter & Hung-Jen Wang & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2017. "Nonparametric estimation of the determinants of inefficiency," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 205-221, June.
    17. Kidokoro, Yukihiro & Lin, Ming Hsin & Zhang, Anming, 2016. "A general-equilibrium analysis of airport pricing, capacity, and regulation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 142-155.
    18. Karanki, Fecri & Lim, Siew Hoon, 2020. "The effects of use agreements on airport efficiency," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    19. Antti Saastamoinen, 2015. "Heteroscedasticity Or Production Risk? A Synthetic View," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 459-478, July.
    20. Ofelia Betancor & María Paz Espinosa, 2015. "Privatización, competencia y regulación aeroportuaria:experiencia internacional," Working Papers 2015-03, FEDEA.

    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:eee:trapol:v:164:y:2025:i:c:p:80-91. 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.