Barriers to entry into European aviation markets revisited: A review and analysis of managerial perceptions

This paper reviews the literature and then investigates the perception of European airline managers (from 58 airlines) with regard to entry barriers to aviation markets. We aim to identify the perceived effectiveness of entry barriers and how the perception differs across management levels, business models and regions. Our results suggest that access to airport slots and competing high-speed rail links are perceived as the most effective entry barriers within the European single market. Other key findings include that particularly regional airlines fear predatory pricing/behaviour and that frequent flyer programs have lost some of their perceived effectiveness.

► Our literature review confirms that traditional airline markets are not contestable but the EU market has changed.
► Our results suggest that access to airport slots is still perceived as the most effective barrier to entry.
► The second most important barrier of today’s EU single market appears to be high-speed train links.
► The perceptions differ across business models and regions but not so much across levels of management.