Flight Service Quality and Competition: Evidence from Regional Airports in Korea

Joo Yeon Sun

Abstract

This study analyzes the effect of competition among carriers on short-haul domestic routes on departure flight delay rates at provincial airports. We construct panel data for each of two airports under a point-to-point network, covering the 2010–2018 period. The following two airports are compared: Daegu International Airport with night curfew restrictions imposed and Cheongju International Airport with no night curfew. The airport-by-airport estimation results from the ordinary least square and instrumental variable estimations are compared. Departure flight delay rates increase with competitive flight services, implying that competition among airline carriers would accelerate the delay in congested air traffic. For Daegu International Airport with curfew time restrictions, low-cost carriers’ timely flights would partly account for on-time performance improvement, but easing the night curfew from 8 hours to 5 hours would have no significant effect.

Keywords airport capacity․regional airport․curfew․low cost carriers