The Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy and Compass Lexecon co-hosted a conference on airline competition on July 17, 2017. Among the issues discussed was antitrust immunity for members of the international airline alliances. Moss’s comments drew on previous empirical work on the costs and benefits of immunity.
Moss suggested that the existing regulatory policy of reviewing grants of immunity be enforced, with periodic reviews requiring market studies and proof of net efficiencies and consumer benefits by the immunized carriers. She also noted that with airline consolidation the U.S. and Europe, alliances are growing more concentrated. Because competition within and between the airline alliances bears importantly on the antitrust immunity question, the costs and benefits of immunity should not be evaluated in a vacuum.
Download the paper Airline Alliances and Systems Competition.
