Ownership and pricing response to entry

I explore state-owned and privately-owned incumbents' differential pricing responses to low cost carrier (LCC) entry in the international airline market. I find that privately-owned incumbents substantively cut prices in response to LCC entry, whereas state-owned incumbents do not. The differential responses of state-owned vs. privately-owned is more considerable on the slot-restricted routes, where incumbents have monopolistic power. In addition, Chinese airlines and Gulf carriers who are aggressively expanding behave differently from other state-owned carriers. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.