Skip to main content
Log in

An empirical study of price movements in the airline industry in the Indian market with power divergence statistics

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management Aims and scope

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the dynamic price dispersion of the Indian domestic airline industry. We develop the power divergence statistic (PDS) for each route and study the average PDS and average airfare movement. We analyze the effect of Average PDS based on a few selected route characteristic variables and market structure variables. Our research suggests that the competition and price dispersion steps up airfares as the departure date comes closer, when both full service carriers and low cost carriers operate in the same market. Application of Revenue Management and Dynamic Pricing is a common practice in the Indian domestic airline industry. It also shows that route characteristics affect airfare movement as well as airfare dispersion in different routes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bilotkach, V., Gorodnichenko, Y. and Talavera, O. (2010) Are airlines’ price-setting strategies different? Journal of Air Transport Management 16(1): 1–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borenstein, S. and Rose, N.L. (1994) Competition and price dispersion in the U.S. airline industry. Journal of Political Economy 102(4): 653–683.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brynjolfsson, E. and Smith, M.D. (2000) Frictionless commerce: A comparison of internet and conventional retailers. Management Science 46(4): 563–585.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dana, J. (1998) Advance-Purchase discounts and price discrimination in competitive markets. Journal of Political Economy 106(2): 395–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Escobari, D. and Gan, L. (2007) Price dispersion under costly capacity and demand uncertainty. NBER Working Paper No. 13075, National Bureau of Economic research, Cambridge, MA.

  • Gallego, G. and van Ryzin, G. (1994) Optimal dynamic pricing of inventories with stochastic demand over finite horizons. Management Science 40(8): 999–1020.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gerardi, K.S. and Shapiro, A.H. (2007) The effect of competition on price dispersion in the airline industry: A panel analysis. Working Paper No. 07-7, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

  • Gerardi, K.S. and Shapiro, A.H. (2009) Does competition reduce price dispersion? New evidence from the airline industry. Journal of Political Economy 117(1): 1–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gillen, D. and Mantin, B. (2009) Price volatility in the airlines markets. Transportation Research Part E 45(5): 693–709.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hazledine, T. (2006) Price discrimination in Cournot-Nash oligopoly. Economics Letters 93(3): 413–420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hernandez, M.A. and Wiggins, S.N. (2008) Non-linear pricing and market concentration in the US airline industry. Texas A&M University Working Paper, Texas A&M University, TX, USA.

  • Hayes, K.J. and Ross, L.B. (1998) Is airlines price dispersion the results of careful planning or competitive forces? Review of Industrial Organization 13(5): 523–541.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mantin, B. and Koo, B. (2009) Dynamic price dispersion in airline markets. Transportation Research E 45(6): 1020–1029.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mantin, B. and Koo, B. (2010) Weekend effect in airfare pricing. Journal of Air Transport Management 16(1): 48–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAfee, P.R. and Velde, V.T. (2007) Dynamic pricing in the airline industry. In: T.J. Hendershott (ed.) Handbook on Economics and Information Systems. Amsterdam: Elsevier Handbooks in Information Systems, Volume I.

    Google Scholar 

  • Obermeyer, A., Evangelinos, C. and Puschel, R. (2013) Price dispersion and competition in European airline markets. Journal of Air Transport Management 26(c): 31–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pels, E. and Rietveld, P. (2004) Airline pricing behavior in the London–Paris market. Journal of Air Transport Management 10(4): 277–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piga, C. and Bachis, E. (2007) Pricing strategies by European traditional and low cost airlines: When is it the best time to book online? In: D. Lee (ed.) Advances in Airline Economics: The Economics of Airline Institutions, Operations and Marketing. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 319–344.

    Google Scholar 

  • Read, T.R.C. and Cressie, N.A.C. (1988) Goodness of Fit Statistics for Discrete Multivariate Data. New York: Springer-Verlag.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Report of working group on civil aviation sector (2012) National Transport Development Policy Committee, Ministry of Civil Aviation. India: Government of India.

  • Sorensen, A.T. (2000) Equilibrium price dispersion in retail markets for prescription drugs. Journal of Political Economy 108(4): 833–850.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stavins, J. (2001) Price discrimination in the airline market: The effect of market concentration. Review of Economics and Statistics 83(1): 200–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Su, X. (2007) Intertemporal pricing with strategic customer behavior. Management Science 53(5): 726–741.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Talluri, K.T. and van Ryzin, G.J. (2004) The Theory and Practice of Revenue Management, International Series in Operations Research and Management Science, Vol. 68 New York, USA: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Goutam Dutta.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dutta, G., Santra, S. An empirical study of price movements in the airline industry in the Indian market with power divergence statistics. J Revenue Pricing Manag 16, 218–232 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/rpm.2016.12

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/rpm.2016.12

Keywords

Navigation