Airport concession revenue sharing and entry deterrence

Abstract

This paper investigates how concession revenue sharing between an airport and an incumbent airline affects the strategic flight frequency choice of that airline for entry deterrence and thus, profits and welfare. Specifically, we construct a model in which the incumbent airline confronts the entry threat of an entrant airline and strategically decides whether to deter or accommodate the entrant airline by choosing its flight frequency. We show that concession revenue sharing between the airport and the incumbent airline may enhance the market power of the incumbent airline, which improves or harms welfare. In addition, concession revenue sharing also diminishes the incentive for the incumbent airline to deter entry, which improves welfare. Our novel results provide important policy implications by determining that the effects of concession revenue sharing depend on the revenue share rate and the airport capacity.