Abstract
Delta Air Lines engaged in vertical product differentiation during the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure that passengers did not sit next to a stranger, Delta did not sell the middle seat on its flights that had them. Its principal rivals, American Airlines and United Airlines, sold all seats. Analysis of the non-stop routes on which Delta faced head-to-head competition with American or United reveals that Delta was able to charge a 10% fare premium and increase its relative market share by 4.7 percentage points from its middle seat policy.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 100274 |
Journal | Economics of Transportation |
Volume | 31 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2022 |
Funding
We would like to thank the Co-Editor, Philippe Gagnepain, and two anonymous referees for helpful comments that made this a better paper.
Keywords
- Aviation
- Pandemic
- Vertical product differentiation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Transportation
- Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous)