STRATEGIC AIRLINE ALLIANCES AND ENDOGENOUS STACKELBERG EQUILIBRIA

Code-sharing agreements have become common business practices in the airline industry. This paper analyzes the economic effects on fares, traffic levels and welfare of code-sharing alliances between an international and a domestic airline. If these two allied airlines and a separate unallied international airline endogenously choose the role of fare-leader or fare-follower, two types of Stackelberg equilibria exist. This finding suggests that the Stackelberg solution seems reasonable, and provides a guideline for the airlines' role-choosing. Although this complementary alliance improves the social welfare, it decreases the consumer surplus of the direct international passengers and may decrease that of the direct domestic passengers. The code-sharing alliance with the complementary partner is profitable for the airlines, and the airline that fails to ally with its complementary partner will decrease its profits. The policy implications of these findings are briefly discussed.

Language

  • English

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  • Accession Number: 00977940
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Aug 20 2004 12:00AM