The new airport model in Europe: more competition, improved regulation.

Abstract

European airline markets are starting to suffer distortionary effects from emerging competition among airports. In Spain these distortions are accentuated by a network management model that stresses the traditionally weak link between who generates airport costs and who pays for them. In this context, we propose a more decentralized management model for Spanish airports which allows for (i) a tariff regime thatreflects airport-specific costs and (ii) differentiated competitive strategies across airports.