Airport competition in the deregulated European aviation market

Abstract

Airport competition is a new feature of European aviation under deregulation. Seventeen case studies of airport competition are presented. Newly commercialised and privatised airports are found to be attractive to passengers and low-cost airlines to whom they offer large discounts. There is considerable scope for much increased service at Europe's many underused airports. The results in the case studies show spectacular increases in traffic at lesser-used airports when served by a low-cost airline.