Abstract

International audience; The objective of this empirical paper is to analyze the impact of an innovation in air transport system on airlines competitive behavior. We consider as innovation, the use of an aircraft with a significant higher capacity: the Airbus 380. Does the use of the A380 by an airline on a particular route give incentives to competitors to introduce as well this type on aircraft on the same route? To answer this question we use some econometric methods to estimate the impact of the introduction of the A380 by an airline, on the probability that airline’s competitors will follow up the innovation. Controlling for others factors which might impact the choice of innovation, we show that the use of the A380 by an airline on a route gives incentives to competitors to introduce it as well