The Recent Trend in the World Air Transport Market and a Two-Airline Policy in Korea

세계민항계의 최적 동향과 우리나라 복수민항체제의 발전방향

Deregulation privatization regionalism and globalization are the specific examples of the recent trends in the world air transport market. As encouraged by the international trends and the domestic policy of promoting market mechanism Korean has been driving a two-airline policy since 1989. But due to the absence of experience and philosophy about the airline co-mpetition both Korean government and the two airlines have been criticized for failing to set fair-competition rules and for struggling to secure air service rights regardless of national interest. Therefore this study shows the costs and benefits of a two-airline policy in a small count-ry reviews the empirical studies about the cost structure of American and Canadian airlines and analyzes the economic consequences of allocating air service rights between two airlines. The policy recommendations are (1) removing government restrictions and expanding ai-rport facilities to develop the domestic market (2) retaining the two-airline policy in the in-ternational market (3) increasing traffic density rather than expanding network for the small airline (4) improving comparative advantage through a global alliance and a technological innovation for the big airline and (5) building an official committee for co-ordinating the two airlines' interests.