Efficiency and Competitiveness of International Airlines

This book focuses on the factors that support the strengths of international airlines in general and the Asian airline carriers in particular. Defining the quality of human capital as the level of education and the competence of airline employees, it analyzes the efficiency of 39 airlines in various regions, both in terms of production and cost structures. It argues that, despite Asia’s well-developed and globally competitive manufacturing sector, aided by open market practices, its overall service sector still lags far behind more advanced economies. As this does not stop Asia-based carriers from generally being more efficient than their counterparts in Europe and North America, the book investigates how competitiveness analysis of the airline industry can help Asian policymakers better prepare for the liberalization of the service sector, given how crucial this aspect is for the future growth of the Asia-Pacific region. Efficiency and Competitiveness of International Airlines offers a valuable resource for policymakers, airline employees, and researchers and students of microeconomics.

Almas Heshmati is a Professor of Economics at Sogang University. He has previously held similar positions at the Korea University, Seoul National University, University of Kurdistan Hawler, RATIO Institute (Sweden), and MTT Agrifood Research (Finland). He was a Research Fellow at the World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER), the United Nations University from 2001 to 2004. From 1998 to 2001, he was an Associate Professor of Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics. He has a PhD from the University of Gothenburg (1994), where he held a Senior Researcher position until 1998. His research interests include applied microeconomics, globalization, development strategy, efficiency, productivity, and growth in the context of manufacturing and services. In addition to more than 150 scientific journal articles, he has published books on the EU Lisbon Process, global inequality, East Asian manufacturing, the Chinese economy, technology transfer, information technology, water resources, landmines, power generation, development economics, economic growth, world values and renewable energy.
Jungsuk Kim is currently a Senior Researcher at the Institute of International and Areas Studies, Sogang University, Korea and teaches data analysis and economics at both Sogang University and Kyung-Hee University, Korea. She worked for more than 25 years in the airline industry including Korean Air, Cathay Pacific Airways and Asiana Airlines before receiving her PhD in International Trade from Sogang University. Her main fields of research are international trade, microeconomics and development economics.