A Longitudinal Analysis of Deconcentration Process for the Top 20 Airlines in China

Abstract

With the rapid development of China’s economy, the aviation industry, as an important part of transportation services, has undoubtedly achieved rapid development. However, there is hardly any academic work that was based on the development of the top airlines in the Chinese airline industry. Hence, this study provides empirical research that takes into account the longitudinal development of the top 20 airlines in China from 2009 to 2018. The throughput volumes (cargo and passenger) of the airlines were analyzed by concentration indicators, namely the concentration ratio (CR), the Herfindahl– Hirschman index (HHI), the Gini coefficient, and the shift-share analysis (SSA). In this paper, the top 20 airlines have been analyzed in terms of the passenger and cargo throughput from 2009 to 2018. The calculation results of CR6, HHI and the Gini coefficient show that the airlines were extremely deconcentrated. In addition, by comparing the ABSGR of passenger and cargo throughput, it is shown that China's aviation industry is dominated by four airlines- Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines. In the future study, it is necessary to explore growth strategies to find niche markets for passenger and cargo transportation.