IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaitra/v106y2023ics0969699722001259.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effects of frequent flyer programs in the competition with high speed rail: A case study of air passenger preference in Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Mizutani, Jun
  • Sakai, Hiroki

Abstract

This study tried to evaluate the effects of Frequent Flyer Programs (FFPs) in competition with High Speed Rail (HSR) by conducting conjoint analysis, using data from our questionnaire surveys at Komatsu airport in Japan. The effects of FFPs, which were evaluated as passengers’ Marginal Willingness to Pay (MWTP) for flight mileage points, were compared with passengers that flew on the competing route with HSR, and those that flew on the non-competing route with HSR. We found that FFPs seem to be more effective at attracting not only FFP members on business, but also FFP members not on business, on the competitive route with HSR. However, the power of FFPs to increase customer loyalty would become weaker after the COVID-19 pandemic if we consider the negative impacts of COVID-19 on business travel demand. On the other hand, when we focus on the non-business passenger, after the pandemic, FFPs would still be effective at cultivating customer loyalty on the competitive route with HSR.

Suggested Citation

  • Mizutani, Jun & Sakai, Hiroki, 2023. "The effects of frequent flyer programs in the competition with high speed rail: A case study of air passenger preference in Japan," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:106:y:2023:i:c:s0969699722001259
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2022.102306
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969699722001259
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2022.102306?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wang, Kun & Xia, Wenyi & Zhang, Anming & Zhang, Qiong, 2018. "Effects of train speed on airline demand and price: Theory and empirical evidence from a natural experiment," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 99-130.
    2. Su, Min & Luan, Weixin & Fu, Xiaowen & Yang, Zaili & Zhang, Rui, 2020. "The competition effects of low-cost carriers and high-speed rail on the Chinese aviation market," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 37-46.
    3. Li, Xiaoyu & Jiang, Changmin & Wang, Kun & Ma, Jun, 2018. "Determinants of partnership levels in air-rail cooperation," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 88-96.
    4. Mizutani, Jun & Sakai, Hiroki, 2021. "Which is a stronger competitor, High Speed Rail, or Low Cost Carrier, to Full Service Carrier? – Effects of HSR network extension and LCC entry on FSC's airfare in Japan," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Xiaowen Fu & Tae H. Oum & Jia Yan, 2014. "An Analysis of Travel Demand in Japan's Intercity Market Empirical Estimation and Policy Simulation," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 48(1), pages 97-113, January.
    6. Teichert, Thorsten & Shehu, Edlira & von Wartburg, Iwan, 2008. "Customer segmentation revisited: The case of the airline industry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 227-242, January.
    7. Jiang, Hongwei & Zhang, Yahua, 2016. "An investigation of service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty in China's airline market," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 80-88.
    8. Seelhorst, Michael & Liu, Yi, 2015. "Latent air travel preferences: Understanding the role of frequent flyer programs on itinerary choice," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 49-61.
    9. Ma, Wenliang & Wang, Qiang & Yang, Hangjun & Zhang, Anming & Zhang, Yahua, 2019. "Effects of Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail on air travel: Passenger types, airline groups and tacit collusion," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 64-76.
    10. Zhang, Anming & Wan, Yulai & Yang, Hangjun, 2019. "Impacts of high-speed rail on airlines, airports and regional economies: A survey of recent research," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1-19.
    11. Ng, Kam To & Fu, Xiaowen & Hanaoka, Shinya & Oum, Tae Hoon, 2022. "Japanese aviation market performance during the COVID-19 pandemic - Analyzing airline yield and competition in the domestic market," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 237-247.
    12. Park, Jin-Woo, 2010. "The effect of frequent flyer programs: A case study of the Korean airline industry," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 287-288.
    13. Vlachos, Ilias & Lin, Zhibin, 2014. "Drivers of airline loyalty: Evidence from the business travelers in China," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 1-17.
    14. Zhang, Fangni & Graham, Daniel J. & Wong, Mark Siu Chun, 2018. "Quantifying the substitutability and complementarity between high-speed rail and air transport," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 191-215.
    15. Liu, Shuli & Wan, Yulai & Ha, Hun-Koo & Yoshida, Yuichiro & Zhang, Anming, 2019. "Impact of high-speed rail network development on airport traffic and traffic distribution: Evidence from China and Japan," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 115-135.
    16. Zhang, Qiong & Yang, Hangjun & Wang, Qiang & Zhang, Anming & Zhang, Yahua, 2020. "Impact of high-speed rail on market concentration and Lerner index in China's airline market," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    17. Zhang, Rui & Johnson, Daniel & Zhao, Weiming & Nash, Chris, 2019. "Competition of airline and high-speed rail in terms of price and frequency: Empirical study from China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 8-18.
    18. Clewlow, Regina R. & Sussman, Joseph M. & Balakrishnan, Hamsa, 2014. "The impact of high-speed rail and low-cost carriers on European air passenger traffic," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 136-143.
    19. Albalate, Daniel & Bel, Germà & Fageda, Xavier, 2015. "Competition and cooperation between high-speed rail and air transportation services in Europe," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 166-174.
    20. Li, Hongchang & Strauss, Jack & Lu, Liu, 2019. "The impact of high-speed rail on civil aviation in China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 187-200.
    21. Chen, Zhenhua, 2017. "Impacts of high-speed rail on domestic air transportation in China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 184-196.
    22. Zhang, Qiong & Yang, Hangjun & Wang, Qiang & Zhang, Anming, 2014. "Market power and its determinants in the Chinese airline industry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-13.
    23. Suau-Sanchez, Pere & Voltes-Dorta, Augusto & Cugueró-Escofet, Natàlia, 2020. "An early assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on air transport: Just another crisis or the end of aviation as we know it?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    24. Martín, Juan Carlos & Román, Concepción & Espino, Raquel, 2011. "Evaluating frequent flyer programs from the air passengers' perspective," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 364-368.
    25. Kurtulmuşoğlu, Feride Bahar & Can, Gülin Feryal & Tolon, Metehan, 2016. "A voice in the skies: Listening to airline passenger preferences," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 130-137.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gu, Hongyi & Wan, Yulai, 2020. "Can entry of high-speed rail increase air traffic? Price competition, travel time difference and catchment expansion," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 55-72.
    2. Zhang, Anming & Wan, Yulai & Yang, Hangjun, 2019. "Impacts of high-speed rail on airlines, airports and regional economies: A survey of recent research," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1-19.
    3. Chen, Zhe & Wang, Zhengli & Jiang, Hai, 2019. "Analyzing the heterogeneous impacts of high-speed rail entry on air travel in China: A hierarchical panel regression approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 86-98.
    4. Asep Yayat Nurhidayat & Hera Widyastuti & Sutikno & Dwi Phalita Upahita, 2023. "Research on Passengers’ Preferences and Impact of High-Speed Rail on Air Transport Demand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-26, February.
    5. Wu, Shuping & Han, Dan, 2022. "Accessibility of high-speed rail (HSR) stations and HSR–air competition: Evidence from China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 262-284.
    6. Yang, Hangjun & Ma, Wenliang & Wang, Qiang & Wang, Kun & Zhang, Yahua, 2020. "Welfare implications for air passengers in China in the era of high-speed rail," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 1-13.
    7. Li, Tao & Rong, Lili, 2021. "Impacts of service feature on vulnerability analysis of high-speed rail network," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 238-253.
    8. Zhu, Feng & Wu, Xu & Cao, Chengxuan, 2021. "High-speed rail and air transport competition under high flight delay conditions in China: A case study of the Beijing-Shanghai corridor," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    9. Mizutani, Jun & Sakai, Hiroki, 2021. "Which is a stronger competitor, High Speed Rail, or Low Cost Carrier, to Full Service Carrier? – Effects of HSR network extension and LCC entry on FSC's airfare in Japan," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    10. Wang, Wei & Sun, Huijun & Wu, Jianjun, 2020. "How does the decision of high-speed rail operator affect social welfare? Considering competition between high-speed rail and air transport," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1-15.
    11. Ma, Wenliang & Wang, Qiang & Yang, Hangjun & Zhang, Guoquan & Zhang, Yahua, 2020. "Understanding airline price dispersion in the presence of high-speed rail," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 93-102.
    12. Wang, Jiaoe & Huang, Jie & Jing, Yue, 2020. "Competition between high-speed trains and air travel in China: From a spatial to spatiotemporal perspective," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 62-78.
    13. Jiang, Changmin & Wang, Kun & Wang, Qiang & Yang, Hangjun, 2022. "The Impact of High-Speed Rail Competition on Airline On-Time Performance," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 109-127.
    14. Su, Min & Luan, Weixin & Fu, Xiaowen & Yang, Zaili & Zhang, Rui, 2020. "The competition effects of low-cost carriers and high-speed rail on the Chinese aviation market," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 37-46.
    15. Li, Hongchang & Wang, Kun & Yu, Kemei & Zhang, Anming, 2020. "Are conventional train passengers underserved after entry of high-speed rail?-Evidence from Chinese intercity markets," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 1-9.
    16. Gu, Hongyi & Wan, Yulai, 2022. "Airline reactions to high-speed rail entry: Rail quality and market structure," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 511-532.
    17. Mohsen Momenitabar & Raj Bridgelall & Zhila Dehdari Ebrahimi & Mohammad Arani, 2021. "Literature Review of Socioeconomic and Environmental Impacts of High-Speed Rail in the World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-27, November.
    18. Chen, Zhe & Jiang, Hai, 2020. "Impacts of high-speed rail on domestic air cargo traffic in China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1-13.
    19. Yang, Zhiwei & Li, Can & Jiao, Jingjuan & Liu, Wei & Zhang, Fangni, 2020. "On the joint impact of high-speed rail and megalopolis policy on regional economic growth in China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 20-30.
    20. Czerny, Achim I. & Fu, Xiaowen & Lei, Zheng & Oum, Tae H., 2021. "Post pandemic aviation market recovery: Experience and lessons from China," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:106:y:2023:i:c:s0969699722001259. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-air-transport-management/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.