Abstract

International audience; Since the beginning of high-speed services in France, the TGV network’s main target has been business traffic using the domestic air transport network. Point-to-point services with the lowest number of intermediate stops have been the preferred solution. SNCF can be considered as an active player in the rail/air transport competition, given that it offers rapid travel times, competitive prices and considerable carrying capacities. Frequencies can be high between the largest towns: 16 round-trip services between Paris and Marseilles (840 km, 190 minutes ), 21 between Paris and Bordeaux (620 km, 190 minutes), etc. ID-TGV, a low-cost subsidiary, has also been created. Operating on selected routes, it provides a good level of on-board services as well as some interesting innovations. The development of high-speed lines has created new competition opportunities between the TGV, Air France and other carriers. This partially explains the relative weakness of competition within the domestic air transport sector: even a low-cost carrier like EasyJet tries to avoid competition on routes where the average travel time of the TGV is lower than 3.5 hours. Air France is now planning to progressively downsize its services on routes where the TGV’s market share is increasing: specific point-to-point services to/from Orly Airport will be closed and, by 2016, only a few feeder lines to/from the CDG-Roissy hub will remain.Our aim is to measure the intensity of the competition in 2010 and, in particular, the shift taking place from a real domestic point-to-point air offer to a stricter hub-feed network with lower frequencies. We have compared the service level provided by the two carriers, basing the comparison on average TGV travel times (which are not related to the real distance covered). Our main hypothesis is that where Air France considers that it has lost in the competition against the TGV, it directs most of its remaining flights towards Roissy-CDG airport, being the carrier’s main hub, in order to focus on connections to long-haul flights. On the other hand, where AF considers that its market share can be consolidated, it then directs most of its flights to Orly Airport which is more convenient for access to and from Paris.