Concorrenza e deregolamentazione nel mercato del trasporto aereo in Italia

Concorrenza e deregolamentazione nel mercato del trasporto aereo in Italia (di Angela Spagnuolo) - ABSTRACT: In this paper we assess the effects of deregulation in the airline market in USA and Europe, with particular attention to the case of Italy. Recent studies on the USA market show that de-regulation, during the eighties, has increased the use of this transportation service by consumers and, at the same time, has lowered the fares paid for the service, with an overall improvement of the consumer surplus. The economic forces at work behind these effects are related to the degree of concentration in the industry. On the other hand, these effects are weaker in Europe and particularly in Italy. In this country we show that recent liberalization has increased the frequency of flights (better quality) and the number of passengers (higher quantity), but has had negligible effects on the fares. Such negligible effects are due to the cost structure of the new entrants. Costs are too high to allow an aggressive price strategy, for acquisition of market shares, against incum-bent firms. The policy implications we suggest are: infrastructuring small airports, mostly used by the smaller new entrants; reducing cost and market advantages for the national leader in the market, also by antitrust interventions. Therefore, any reduction in the price-cost margins can only be delivered by substantial improvement of the competitive pressures in the industry.