Scale economies in the Korean airline industry since the entry of low-cost carriers

Abstract

This paper investigates how the economies of scale in the Korean airline industry have changed since the emergence of low-cost carriers (LCCs). Our sample consists of 66 firm-years from 2008 to 2017. We estimate the translog cost function (TCF) to determine the changes in scale economies during the sample period. The TCF represented airlines' cost function more appropriately than the Cobb-Douglas model. The estimated cost function suggests that overall economies of scale have prevailed in the Korean airline industry since the entry of LCCs. Depending on the type of airline business, scale economies seem to be exhausted for full-service carriers, whereas LCCs have enjoyed economies of scale.