Dynamic price competition in air transport market, An analysis on long-haul routes

Abstract : We study airline price competition on long - haul markets. Our analysis includes the two main determinant s of airline pricing strategies: average level of price and price dispersion. This joint analysis is particularly relevant on mature market where airlines face an increasing competitive pressure from incumbents and potential entrants. To lower price competition, they tend to differentiate their products and use complex discriminatory practices on the basis of their Revenue Management process . The price level and dispersion are jointly affected by a number of common factors. The level of competition and the date of booking compared to the day to departure appear to have a particular relevance. It’s much noticing that in the airline Revenue Management process these two elements are taken into consideration. Much of the models developed in the empirical literature use the information freely provided by the US DB1B database . This restricts the empirical analysis to the US market, but most obviously the restriction lies in the quarterly nature of the data . The day of purchase is not observed and the data are quarterly aggregated.