IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaitra/v107y2023ics0969699722001478.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of COVID-19 on airlines’ price curves

Author

Listed:
  • Morlotti, Chiara
  • Redondi, Renato

Abstract

COVID-19 has had a major negative impact on the travel industry, especially on the aviation sector. Along with travel restrictions to contain the spread of the virus, a drastic drop in demand—mainly caused by the decrease in the willingness to travel—has also been registered. This study explores the impact of COVID-19 on airline pricing curves, in terms of the price level, price dispersion, and the extent to which intertemporal price discrimination is applied. By analyzing all major European flights departing from and arriving in Italy, the results reveal a 31% overall decrease in airline price per kilometer. Additionally, price dispersion dropped, and price discrimination intensity was found to have decreased as a result of COVID-19. These outcomes can be explained in light of two major impacts of the pandemic on air travel demand, namely the variation in the passenger mix and travelers’ higher price sensitivity. Further analyses indicate that—along with other market and flight characteristics—market concentration, introduced interventions to prevent and control COVID-19, and airline- and destination-types play an important role in determining prices, price dispersion, and the price discrimination intensity.

Suggested Citation

  • Morlotti, Chiara & Redondi, Renato, 2023. "The impact of COVID-19 on airlines’ price curves," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:107:y:2023:i:c:s0969699722001478
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2022.102328
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969699722001478
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2022.102328?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. Joanna Stavins, 2001. "Price Discrimination in the Airline Market: The Effect of Market Concentration," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(1), pages 200-202, February.
    2. Oded Koenigsberg & Eitan Muller & Naufel Vilcassim, 2008. "easyJet® pricing strategy: Should low-fare airlines offer last-minute deals?," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 279-297, September.
    3. Howell, Charles & Grifell-Tatjé, Emili, 2022. "Market heterogeneity and the relationship between competition and price dispersion: Evidence from the U.S. airline market," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 218-230.
    4. Forbes, Silke J., 2008. "The effect of air traffic delays on airline prices," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 1218-1232, September.
    5. Wan, Xiang & Zou, Li & Dresner, Martin, 2009. "Assessing the price effects of airline alliances on parallel routes," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 627-641, July.
    6. Cattaneo, Mattia & Malighetti, Paolo & Morlotti, Chiara & Redondi, Renato, 2016. "Quantity price discrimination in the air transport industry: The easyJet case," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1-8.
    7. Landie Qiu, 2021. "Zero displacement cost model: a simplified RM model for post-COVID-19 O&D management," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(1), pages 21-32, February.
    8. Puller, Steven L. & Taylor, Lisa M., 2012. "Price discrimination by day-of-week of purchase: Evidence from the U.S. airline industry," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 84(3), pages 801-812.
    9. Sun, Xiaoqian & Wandelt, Sebastian & Zheng, Changhong & Zhang, Anming, 2021. "COVID-19 pandemic and air transportation: Successfully navigating the paper hurricane," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    10. Mantin, Benny & Rubin, Eran, 2018. "Price volatility and market performance measures: The case of revenue managed goods," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 35-50.
    11. Marco Alderighi & Marcella Nicolini & Claudio A. Piga, 2015. "Combined Effects of Capacity and Time on Fares: Insights from the Yield Management of a Low-Cost Airline," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(4), pages 900-915, October.
    12. Diego Escobari, 2012. "Dynamic Pricing, Advance Sales and Aggregate Demand Learning in Airlines," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 697-724, December.
    13. Sarah Guillou & Stéphanie Giaume, 2004. "Price Discrimination and Concentration in European Airline Market," Post-Print hal-03609576, HAL.
    14. Gudmundsson, S.V. & Cattaneo, M. & Redondi, R., 2021. "Forecasting temporal world recovery in air transport markets in the presence of large economic shocks: The case of COVID-19," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    15. Mantin, Benny & Koo, Bonwoo, 2010. "Weekend effect in airfare pricing," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 48-50.
    16. Kim, Myeonghyeon & Sohn, Jeongwoong, 2022. "Passenger, airline, and policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis: The case of South Korea," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    17. Anjos, Miguel F. & Cheng, Russell C. H. & Currie, Christine S. M., 2005. "Optimal pricing policies for perishable products," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 166(1), pages 246-254, October.
    18. Obermeyer, Andy & Evangelinos, Christos & Püschel, Ronny, 2013. "Price dispersion and competition in European airline markets," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 31-34.
    19. Brueckner, Jan K. & Lee, Darin & Singer, Ethan S., 2013. "Airline competition and domestic US airfares: A comprehensivereappraisal," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-17.
    20. Severin Borenstein, 1989. "Hubs and High Fares: Dominance and Market Power in the U.S. Airline Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(3), pages 344-365, Autumn.
    21. Maneenop, Sakkakom & Kotcharin, Suntichai, 2020. "The impacts of COVID-19 on the global airline industry: An event study approach," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    22. Alberto A. Gaggero & Claudio A. Piga, 2011. "Airline Market Power and Intertemporal Price Dispersion," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 552-577, December.
    23. Borenstein, Severin & Rose, Nancy L, 1994. "Competition and Price Dispersion in the U.S. Airline Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(4), pages 653-683, August.
    24. Cattaneo, Mattia & Malighetti, Paolo & Redondi, Renato & Salanti, Andrea, 2018. "Changes in frequencies and price variations on point-to-point routes: The case of easyJet," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 60-70.
    25. Tan, Kerry M. & Samuel, Andrew, 2016. "The effect of de-hubbing on airfares," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 45-52.
    26. Yao Cui & A. Yeşim Orhun & Izak Duenyas, 2019. "How Price Dispersion Changes When Upgrades Are Introduced: Theory and Empirical Evidence from the Airline Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(8), pages 3835-3852, August.
    27. Morlotti, Chiara & Cattaneo, Mattia & Malighetti, Paolo & Redondi, Renato, 2017. "Multi-dimensional price elasticity for leisure and business destinations in the low-cost air transport market: Evidence from easyJet," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 23-34.
    28. Bauer, Linus Benjamin & Bloch, Daniel & Merkert, Rico, 2020. "Ultra Long-Haul: An emerging business model accelerated by COVID-19," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    29. B. Vinod, 2020. "The COVID-19 pandemic and airline cash flow," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(4), pages 228-229, August.
    30. Mian Dai & Qihong Liu & Konstantinos Serfes, 2014. "Is the Effect of Competition on Price Dispersion Nonmonotonic? Evidence from the U.S. Airline Industry," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(1), pages 161-170, March.
    31. Giaume, Stephanie & Guillou, Sarah, 2004. "Price discrimination and concentration in European airline markets," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 305-310.
    32. Kristopher S. Gerardi & Adam Hale Shapiro, 2009. "Does Competition Reduce Price Dispersion? New Evidence from the Airline Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 117(1), pages 1-37, February.
    33. Lamb, Tracy L. & Winter, Scott R. & Rice, Stephen & Ruskin, Keith J. & Vaughn, Austin, 2020. "Factors that predict passengers willingness to fly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    34. Malighetti, Paolo & Paleari, Stefano & Redondi, Renato, 2009. "Pricing strategies of low-cost airlines: The Ryanair case study," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 195-203.
    35. 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).
    36. Laurie Garrow & Virginie Lurkin, 2021. "How COVID-19 is impacting and reshaping the airline industry," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(1), pages 3-9, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Morlotti, Chiara & Birolini, Sebastian & Malighetti, Paolo & Redondi, Renato, 2023. "A latent class approach to estimate air travelers’ propensity toward connecting itineraries," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    2. Rui Qi & Dan Jin & Han Chen & Xichen Mou & Faizan Ali, 2024. "Strategic-level perceived fairness of hotel dynamic pricing: the role of cues and the asymmetric moderating effect of inflation attribution," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(3), pages 249-261, June.
    3. Borsati, Mattia & Fageda, Xavier, 2024. "Airline price responses in the face of demand shocks: European lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).

    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. Gaggero, Alberto A. & Luttmann, Alexander, 2023. "The determinants of hidden-city ticketing: Competition, hub-and-spoke networks, and advance-purchase requirements," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    2. Cattaneo, Mattia & Malighetti, Paolo & Redondi, Renato & Salanti, Andrea, 2018. "Changes in frequencies and price variations on point-to-point routes: The case of easyJet," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 60-70.
    3. Luttmann, Alexander & Gaggero, Alberto A, 2020. "Purchase discounts and travel premiums during holiday periods: Evidence from the airline industry," MPRA Paper 104863, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Diego Escobari & Nicholas G. Rupp & Joseph Meskey, 2019. "An Analysis of Dynamic Price Discrimination in Airlines," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(3), pages 639-662, January.
    5. Borsati, Mattia & Fageda, Xavier, 2024. "Airline price responses in the face of demand shocks: European lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    6. Lewis, Matthew S., 2021. "Identifying airline price discrimination and the effect of competition," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Chengyan Gu, 2023. "Market segmentation and dynamic price discrimination in the U.S. airline industry," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(5), pages 338-361, October.
    8. Yannis Kerkemezos & Bas Karreman, 2020. "On the Benefits of Being Alone: Scheduling Changes, Intensity of Competition and Dynamic Airline Pricing," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-042/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    9. Andrés Martínez, María-Encarnación & Alfaro Navarro, José-Luis & Trinquecoste, Jean-François, 2017. "The effect of destination type and travel period on the behavior of the price of airline tickets," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 37-43.
    10. Escobari, Diego & Rupp, Nicholas & Meskey, Joseph, 2018. "Dynamic Price Discrimination in Airlines," MPRA Paper 88078, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Cattaneo, Mattia & Malighetti, Paolo & Morlotti, Chiara & Redondi, Renato, 2016. "Quantity price discrimination in the air transport industry: The easyJet case," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1-8.
    12. Roma, Paolo & Zambuto, Fabio & Perrone, Giovanni, 2014. "Price dispersion, competition, and the role of online travel agents: Evidence from business routes in the Italian airline market," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 146-159.
    13. Angela Stefania Bergantino & Claudia Capozza, 2015. "Airline Pricing Behavior Under Limited Inter‐Modal Competition," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 53(1), pages 700-713, January.
    14. Siegert, Caspar & Ulbricht, Robert, 2020. "Dynamic oligopoly pricing: Evidence from the airline industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    15. Alderighi, Marco & Gaggero, Alberto A. & Piga, Claudio A., 2022. "Hidden prices with fixed inventory: Evidence from the airline industry," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 42-61.
    16. Howell, Charles & Grifell-Tatjé, Emili, 2022. "Market heterogeneity and the relationship between competition and price dispersion: Evidence from the U.S. airline market," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 218-230.
    17. 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.
    18. Moreno-Izquierdo, L. & Ramón-Rodríguez, A. & Perles Ribes, J., 2015. "The impact of the internet on the pricing strategies of the European low cost airlines," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 246(2), pages 651-660.
    19. Myongjin Kim & Leilei Shen & Qi Ge, 2023. "Does Competition Increase or Decrease Price Dispersion? Insights from One‐Way vs. Round‐Trip Airfares," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 85(2), pages 435-455, April.
    20. Mantin, Benny & Rubin, Eran, 2018. "Price volatility and market performance measures: The case of revenue managed goods," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 35-50.

    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:107:y:2023:i:c:s0969699722001478. 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.