While it is widely acknowledged that airport re-organisation from destination to dedicated airline group terminals makes passenger travel more seamless, more efficient and also more profitable for both airlines and airports, there is little known about the impacts of such change on freight and...

This paper reviews the existing literature on airport benchmarking. In addition to assessing the advantages and disadvantages of partial productivity measures (PPM), we also discuss parametric and non-parametric methods with reference to previous applications to the airport sector. Our...

This paper discusses the effects of institutional organisation on the transactions and interactions between train operators and infrastructure managers in the three most liberalised rail systems in Europe, namely Britain, Germany and Sweden. The heart of the analysis is a major in-depth...

As a result of the liberalisation of airline markets; the strong growth of low cost carriers; the high volatility in fuel prices; and the recent global financial crisis, the cost pressure that airlines face is very substantial. In order to survive in these very competitive environments,...

The significant effects of competition, franchising and vertical separation of rail infrastructure from train operation on the level of transaction costs are often anecdotally described in the literature. Although it has been shown that franchising has an effect on total costs, there is very...

This paper reviews literature and management perspectives on airline mergers and acquisitions. We find that M&A/consolidation is seen as a “game-changer” and mandatory to survive in aviation markets. We, therefore, apply DEA models to 66 airlines to evaluate whether big is indeed always...

This paper compares recent experiences in contract negotiation and subsequent commitment in public air services with the bus industry. The heart of the paper is a survey of European and Australian regional airlines, which we mirror with revealed experiences of bus operators. We aim to identify a...

The discussion and conclusions of Thredbo's Workshop 3 are summarized. History and the socio-economic environment is a condition that should be considered as a most important fact when moving into planning public transportation. Contradictory targets should be identified and avoided a priori....

With the aim to improve efficiency and value for money, in addition to tendered services the European Commission approach to rail organisation allows substantial open access rail services in both passenger and freight operations. This paper investigates, from a transaction cost perspective,...

Low-cost carriers (LCCs) are a significant threat to the sustainability of network airlines. That LCCs are growing – particularly within Asia-Pacific – exacerbates this problem and network airlines have reacted to this by creating lower-cost subsidiaries, known as airlines-within-airlines...