Are legacy airline mergers pro- or anti-competitive? Evidence from recent U.S. airline mergers

Dennis Carlton, Mark Israel, Ian MacSwain and Eugene Orlov

International Journal of Industrial Organization, 2019, vol. 62, issue C, 58-95

Abstract: Due to a series of recent mergers, the number of legacy airlines in the United States has decreased from six to three. We conduct a comprehensive investigation of the effect on fares and output of these legacy airline mergers to determine whether the mergers have had an overall pro-competitive or anti-competitive effect on consumers. Our difference-in-differences regression analysis shows that these mergers have been pro-competitive, with no significant adverse effect on nominal fares and with significant increases in passenger traffic as well as capacity. Taken together, the results indicate that the recent legacy mergers were pro-competitive.

Keywords: Airline Mergers; Antitrust Policy; Merger Retrospective (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L40 L41 L93 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:indorg:v:62:y:2019:i:c:p:58-95

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2017.12.002

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