Liberalizing Europe's Skies - A Failure? An Analysis of Airline Entry and Exit in the Post-liberalized German Airline Market, 1993-2006

The study examines actual entry and exit dynamics in the German airline market in light of the European liberalization process. For this purpose, flight schedules data was used to derive entry and exit statistics for a set of chosen inner-German routes over a period of thirteen years. Data was analysed in cross-sectional and longitudinal manner while identifying different entry waves and examining incumbent behaviour with respect to entry deterrence strategies. Furthermore, the market's concentration and structure was tracked to allow a conclusion with respect to the market's contestability after liberalization. The results suggest the existence of remaining structural barriers to entry and depict a rather unsatisfactory overall state of the post liberalized market.