Comprehensive Business Research Report: Airline Competition Analysis

This report provides an analysis of four articles focusing on airline competition, deregulation, and market strategies. The articles explore the positive impacts of competition, the necessity of effective strategies, and the effects of liberalization on traffic and economic growth. Common themes include the benefits of competition and the importance of strategic planning. The report also examines contradictions, limitations in the studies, such as identifying competitive resources and price variations, and proposes directions for future research, including a focus on regulated and deregulated airline organizations. The report references key studies by Levine (1987), Oum et al. (2013), Hannigan et al. (2015), and Acar and Karabulak (2015), providing a comprehensive overview of the airline industry's competitive landscape.

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Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institution
Course
City
Date

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The list of articles that will be reviewed
a) Airline competition in deregulated markets: theory, firm strategy, and public policy
b) Air transport liberalization and its impacts on airline competition and air passenger
traffic
c) Competition between Full-Service Network Carriers and Low-Cost Carriers in Turkish
Airline Market
d) Competition and competitiveness in the US airline industry
A brief summary of the theory and progression in the field
Airline competition in deregulated markets: theory, firm strategy, and public policy
Before the 1950s, the airlines in many parts of the world were regulated by the
governments. The aspect of regulating the airlines made it impossible for the airlines to
promote competition because of the political and economic influences. However, after the
1950s, most governments stopped regulating the airlines and that promoted competition in the
airline industry.
Air transport liberalization and its impacts on airline competition and air passenger traffic
The study examines the effects that have been brought by liberalization policies on
traffic flow patterns, traffic volume and economic growth. Economic growth was one of the
effects of liberalization (Oum et al. 2013). The reason behind it is because liberalization came
along with positive effects like enhanced competitiveness and increased efficiency. As a
result, more investors and customers were attracted to the airline industry.

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Competition between Full-Service Network Carriers and Low-Cost Carriers in Turkish
Airline Market
There is an immense increase in competition in the airline industry. At the same time,
the organizations that are investing in the airline industry have increased (Acar and
Karabulak, 2015. As a result, organizations have been motivated to come up with strategies
that are aimed at making sure that they woe more customers.
Competition and competitiveness in the US airline industry
The study is aimed at looking at some of the implications of competitiveness on the
strategies of organizations in the United States. Competition is not only affected by the
strategies but also by the resources (Hannigan et al. 2015). By looking at the data in the
United States airlines which was collected from 1996-2011, it will be easier to understand the
competitive nature of the United States airline industry. Considering that the data has been
collected for fifteen years, it is evident that the data would show the trend in the airline
industry.
Common themes/findings across the four articles
All the articles have focused on one two common themes and they are; positive
impacts of competition and the necessity of strategies in enhancing competition in the airline
industry. Competition has been termed as the tool that has been used to bring forth positive
changes in the airline industry. Through competition, the customers have benefited because a
wide variety of options have been provided to them and at the same time, prices have reduced.
All articles have also agreed that strategies are a determining factor when it comes to

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competition. The organizations which have proved to have the best strategies still stand to be
the organizations to beat in the airline industry. The process of implementing strategies also
comes in handy, and this is because it is through implementation that the strategy take effect
and change the performance of the organization.
Different themes/findings across the four articles
Looking at the articles, there is only one contradicting theme and finding. The only
article that may seem to be contradicting is the article by Levine (1987) which concentrates
more on the deregulated markets. Looking at other articles, it is apparent that they do not
factor in the regulated and deregulated markets. However, they emphasize the need to have
effective strategies in place to make sure that an airline organization is competitive. Other
articles believe that having effective strategies in whichever markets are the best way to win
the customers and therefore the type of the market should not be stated as a barrier to being
competitive. Therefore, the aspect of regulations in the market does not affect the
competitiveness of the airline industry.
Study limitations and how these differ from the various study designs
Hannigan et al. (2015), state that there is a limitation in identifying the
competitiveness resources in other nations. The study focused on the United States and
considering that other nations use different dimensions, it would be difficult to give an
account of other nations. According to Acar and Karabulak (2015), it is difficult to work with
a specific price especially when trying to study variations in the prices of the products. The
reason behind it is associated with the inequality in the value of the currencies. The value of a
dollar in the United States might not be the same value in China. Though there are standards

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that regulate the exchange of currencies, it is rare for the same amount of money that could
buy a specific product to buy the same product in a different country. Therefore, there comes
a challenge when it comes to evaluating the aspect of low cost. Oum et al. (2013) stated that
the limitation that was evident in the study was to gather the content of all policies with the
aim of evaluating it. It is imperative to note that the study needed the policies so that it could
associate the policies of the organizations with their success. In his article, Levine states that
there was a limitation in identifying the deregulated organizations. Some of the airline
companies might not be in the hands of the governments, but it is apparent that the
government policies affect them negatively. When it comes to such a point, there is the
challenge of knowing if the organizations are independent or still regulated by the
governments.
Future research directions proposed in the articles
The article by Levine emphasizes the need to concentrate the forthcoming study on the
regulated and deregulated airline organizations. By doing so, it would be easier for future
research that looks into matters of regulations to be conducted. The rest of the articles have
failed to provide a guideline on the perspectives of the future research, and that leaves the
teams which might be interested in conducting another study with the power to decide.

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References
Acar, Z. and Karabulak, S., 2015. Competition between Full-Service Network Carriers and
Low-Cost Carriers in Turkish Airline Market, Social and Behavioral Sciences, 207: 642-651.
Hannigan, T. Mudambi, R. and Hamilton, R., 2015. Competition and competitiveness in the
US airline industry, International Business Journal, 25(2): 134-155.
Levine, E., 1987. Airline Competition in Deregulated Markets: Theory, Firm Strategy, and
Public Policy, Yale Journal of Regulations, 4:6.
Oum, T. Zhang, A. and Fu, X., 2013. Air Transport Liberalization and its Impacts on Airline
Competition and Air Passenger Traffic, University of British Colombia.