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A Re-examination of Incumbents’ Response to the Threat of Entry: Evidence from the Airline Industry

Author

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  • Gayle, Philip
  • Wu, Chi-Yin
Abstract
Much of the literature on the airline industry identifies a potential entrant to a market based on whether the relevant carrier has presence in at least one of the endpoint airports of the market without actually operating between the endpoints. Furthermore, a potential entrant is often defined as a credible “entry threat” to market incumbents once the potential entrant establishes presence at the second endpoint airport of the market. This paper provides evidence that even when a potential entrant has presence at both endpoint airports of a market, incumbents may not respond to this as an effective “entry threat”. Specifically, we find that: (1) incumbents lower price by more when the potential entrant has a hub at one or both market endpoints; and (2) incumbents increase rather than lower their price if they have an alliance partnership with the “potential entrant”.

Suggested Citation

  • Gayle, Philip & Wu, Chi-Yin, 2012. "A Re-examination of Incumbents’ Response to the Threat of Entry: Evidence from the Airline Industry," MPRA Paper 52850, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2013.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:52850
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    Cited by:

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    3. Philip G. Gayle & Ying Lin, 2021. "Cost Pass‐Through In Commercial Aviation: Theory And Evidence," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(2), pages 803-828, April.
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    6. Philip G. Gayle & Xin Xie, 2018. "Entry Deterrence And Strategic Alliances," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(3), pages 1898-1924, July.
    7. Fukui, Hideki, 2019. "How do slot restrictions affect airfares? New evidence from the US airline industry," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 51-71.
    8. Xiaowei Tang & Siyu Ren & Xinyao Ma & Kurt Fuellhart, 2022. "Borrowing Power from Potential Entrants and High-Speed Rail: Entry Pattern of China’s Low-Cost Carrier," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-16, May.
    9. Bauner, Christoph & Liu, Zexuan, 2022. "Incumbents’ pricing and nonpricing responses to entry in vertically differentiated markets," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    10. Lijesen, Mark & Behrens, Christiaan, 2017. "The spatial scope of airline competition," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1-13.
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    12. Ma, Wenliang & Wang, Qiang & Yang, Hangjun & Zhang, Guoquan & Zhang, Yahua, 2020. "Understanding airline price dispersion in the presence of high-speed rail," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 93-102.
    13. Gualini, Andrea & Zou, Li & Dresner, Martin, 2023. "Airline strategies during the pandemic: What worked?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
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    16. Alexander Luttmann & Cody Nehiba, 2020. "The Effects of Employee Hours‐of‐Service Regulations on the U.S. Airline Industry," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 1043-1075, September.
    17. Jan K. Brueckner & Darin N. Lee & Pierre M. Picard & Ethan Singer, 2015. "Product Unbundling in the Travel Industry: The Economics of Airline Bag Fees," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 457-484, September.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Empirical Entry Model; Airline Competition;

    JEL classification:

    • C1 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General
    • C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions; Probabilities
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L93 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Air Transportation

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