On the extent, trend, and stability of market concentration in the global aviation system since 2010

Abstract

In recent decades, substantial efforts for liberalization and deregulation of the aviation sector have facilitated the entry of new firms into markets and led to a significant reduction in airfares. How competition in the airline sector has evolved at the global scale since the 2000s receives little attention in the literature, presumably due to the unavailability of appropriate datasets. This study investigates the airline market concentration across worldwide markets for the years 2010 to 2022; to the best of our knowledge this is the first such effort with longitudinal data for more than 10 years at a global scale. We find heterogeneities in the extent, trend, and stability of market concentration and aim to identify potential drivers behind. We believe that our study contributes to the rich existing literature on airline competition by providing an empirical reference baseline for the global aviation system in the first part of the 21st century.