IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jlawec/v50y2007p731-755.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Post-9/11 Airport Security Measures on the Demand for Air Travel

Author

Listed:
  • Garrick Blalock
  • Vrinda Kadiyali
  • Daniel H. Simon

Abstract

We examine the impact of two post-9/11 airport security measures—baggage screening and federalization of passenger screening—on demand for air travel in the United States. Exploiting the phased introduction of security measures across airports, we find that baggage screening reduced passenger volume by about 6 percent on all flights and by about 9 percent on flights departing from the nation’s 50 busiest airports. In contrast, federalizing passenger screening had little effect on passenger volume. We provide evidence that the reduction in demand was an unintended consequence of baggage screening and not the result of contemporaneous price changes, airport-specific shocks, schedule changes, or other factors. This decline in air travel had a substantial cost. Back-of-the-envelope calculations indicate that the airline industry lost about $1.1 billion because of the decline, which is 11 percent of the loss attributed directly to 9/11.

Suggested Citation

  • Garrick Blalock & Vrinda Kadiyali & Daniel H. Simon, 2007. "The Impact of Post-9/11 Airport Security Measures on the Demand for Air Travel," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(4), pages 731-755.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlawec:v:50:y:2007:p:731-755
    DOI: 10.1086/519816
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/519816
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/519816?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. repec:bla:revpol:v:21:y:2004:i:3:p:275-291 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. James A. Brander & Anming Zhang, 1990. "Market Conduct in the Airline Industry: An Empirical Investigation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 21(4), pages 567-583, Winter.
    3. Brueckner, Jan K & Spiller, Pablo T, 1994. "Economies of Traffic Density in the Deregulated Airline Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(2), pages 379-415, October.
    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. Friedrich Schneider & Tilman Brück & Daniel Meierrieks, 2010. "The Economics of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism: A Survey (Part I)," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1049, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Hagmann, Carmen & Semeijn, Janjaap & Vellenga, David B., 2015. "Exploring the green image of airlines: Passenger perceptions and airline choice," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 37-45.
    3. Broughel, James & Viscusi, Kip, 2017. "Death by Regulation: How Regulations Can Increase Mortality Risk," Working Papers 06864, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
    4. Mark G. Stewart & John Mueller, 2017. "Risk and economic assessment of expedited passenger screening and TSA PreCheck," Journal of Transportation Security, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-22, June.
    5. Adrienne, Nena & Budd, Lucy & Ison, Stephen, 2020. "Grounded aircraft: An airfield operations perspective of the challenges of resuming flights post COVID," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. Sander Van Cranenburgh & Caspar Chorus & Bert Van Wee, 2012. "Substantial Changes and Their Impact on Mobility: A Typology and an Overview of the Literature," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(5), pages 569-597, June.
    7. Wang, Xiaofang & Zhuang, Jun, 2011. "Balancing congestion and security in the presence of strategic applicants with private information," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 212(1), pages 100-111, July.
    8. Cheong Kim & Francis Joseph Costello & Kun Chang Lee, 2019. "Integrating Qualitative Comparative Analysis and Support Vector Machine Methods to Reduce Passengers’ Resistance to Biometric E-Gates for Sustainable Airport Operations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-22, September.
    9. Severin Borenstein & Nancy L. Rose, 2007. "How Airline Markets Work...Or Do They? Regulatory Reform in the Airline Industry," NBER Working Papers 13452, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Adam Rose & Misak Avetisyan & Heather Rosoff & William J. Burns & Paul Slovic & Oswin Chan, 2017. "The Role of Behavioral Responses in the Total Economic Consequences of Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Air Travel Targets," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(7), pages 1403-1418, July.
    11. Kenneth C. Fletcher & Ali E. Abbas, 2018. "A Value Measure for Public‐Sector Enterprise Risk Management: A TSA Case Study," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(5), pages 991-1008, May.
    12. Chen, Tiantian & Fu, Xiaowen & Hensher, David A. & Li, Zhi-Chun & Sze, N.N., 2022. "The effect of online meeting and health screening on business travel: A stated preference case study in Hong Kong," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    13. Schmalz, Ulrike & Ringbeck, Jürgen & Spinler, Stefan, 2021. "Door-to-door air travel: Exploring trends in corporate reports using text classification models," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    14. Hofer, Christian & Kali, Raja & Mendez, Fabio, 2018. "Socio-economic mobility and air passenger demand in the U.S," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 85-94.
    15. Baumert, Thomas & de Obesso, María Mercedes & Valbuena, Esther, 2020. "How does the terrorist experience alter consumer behaviour? An analysis of the Spanish case," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 357-364.
    16. Cheong Kim & Kun Chang Lee & Francis Joseph Costello, 2020. "The Intention of Passengers towards Repeat Use of Biometric Security for Sustainable Airport Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, June.
    17. Michael F. Pesko, 2014. "Stress And Smoking: Associations With Terrorism And Causal Impact," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 32(2), pages 351-371, April.
    18. Sakano, R. & Obeng, K. & Fuller, K., 2016. "Airport security and screening satisfaction: A case study of U.S," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 129-138.
    19. Alan King, 2010. "The Effect Of 9/11 On Us Exports And Imports Of Tourism," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5-6), pages 535-546.

    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. Jiang, Changmin & Zhang, Anming, 2014. "Effects of high-speed rail and airline cooperation under hub airport capacity constraint," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 33-49.
    2. Ciliberto, Federico & Williams, Jonathan, 2010. "Does Multimarket Contact Facilitate Tacit Collusion? Inference on Conjectural Parameters in the Airline Industry," MPRA Paper 24888, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Joseph A. Clougherty & Anming Zhang, 2009. "Domestic rivalry and export performance: theory and evidence from international airline markets," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 42(2), pages 440-468, May.
    4. Clougherty, Joseph A., 2004. "Integrating Industrial Organization and International Business to Explain the Cross-National Domestic Airline Merger Phenomenon," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 19, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
    5. Armantier, Olivier & Richard, Oliver, 2003. "Exchanges of Cost Information in the Airline Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 34(3), pages 461-477, Autumn.
    6. Ofelia Betancor & Juan Luis Jiménez, 2011. "When trains go faster than planes: the strategic reaction of airlines in Spain," ERSA conference papers ersa11p295, European Regional Science Association.
    7. Fageda, Xavier & Jiménez, Juan Luis & Valido, Jorge, 2016. "Does an increase in subsidies lead to changes in air fares? Empirical evidence from Spain," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 235-242.
    8. Richard, Oliver, 2003. "Flight frequency and mergers in airline markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 907-922, June.
    9. Gayle, Philip G. & Brown, Dave, 2014. "Airline strategic alliances in overlapping markets: Should policymakers be concerned?," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 243-256.
    10. Joan Calzada & Xavier Fageda, 2012. "Discounts and Public Service Obligations in the Airline Market: Lessons from Spain," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 40(4), pages 291-312, June.
    11. Clougherty, Joseph A., 2002. "US domestic airline mergers: the neglected international determinants," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 557-576, April.
    12. Xavier Fageda, 2006. "Measuring Conduct and Cost Parameters in the Spanish Airline Market," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 28(4), pages 379-399, June.
    13. Gayle, Philip G. & Xie, Xin, 2019. "Firms’ markup, cost, and price changes when policymakers permit collusion: Does antitrust immunity matter?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 680-707.
    14. Joseph A. Clougherty, 2006. "The international drivers of domestic airline mergers in twenty nations: integrating industrial organization and international business," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 75-93.
    15. Federico Ciliberto & Jonathan W. Williams, 2014. "Does multimarket contact facilitate tacit collusion? Inference on conduct parameters in the airline industry," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 45(4), pages 764-791, December.
    16. Gayle Philip G. & Wu Chi-Yin, 2014. "On the Extent to which the Presence of Intermediate-stop(s) Air Travel Products Influences the Pricing of Nonstop Air Travel Products," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(3), pages 355-395, September.
    17. Fageda, Xavier, 2014. "What hurts the dominant airlines at hub airports?," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 177-189.
    18. Xia, Wenyi & Zhang, Anming, 2016. "High-speed rail and air transport competition and cooperation: A vertical differentiation approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 456-481.
    19. Anming Zhang & Yimin Zhang & Joseph A. Clougherty, 2011. "Competition and Regulation in Air Transport," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 35, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Karen Mayor & Richard S.J. Tol, 2007. "The Impact of the EU-US Open Skies Agreement on International Travel and Carbon Dioxide Emissions," Papers WP191, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ucp:jlawec:v:50:y:2007:p:731-755. 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: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JLE .

    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.