The ticket distribution industry is changing rapidly. The traditional travel distribution chain comprised airlines, travel agents, and computer reservation systems (CRSs). With the current migration of travel distribution to the Internet, the way in which these actors interact has been radically altered. / After deregulation, the airlines' dependence on travel agents and CRSs led to high commission and booking fees respectively. The Internet now offers airlines a means to directly distribute their product to the travelling public with minimal expense. The airlines are eagerly shifting as many of their distribution activities as possible to different forms of web-based distribution, hoping to bypass both travel agents and CRSs. This has allowed them to reduce the commission fees they pay to travel agents. Travel agents too are going online, competing vigorously with the airlines. The combined effect of these (r)evolutions has put the airlines firmly in charge of their own distribution system. / Any such a fundamental change in a sector of industry is bound to raise anticompetitive concerns, especially for those who stand to lose the most. These concerns are at the centre of this thesis. After their examination and evaluation, I conclude that anticompetitive concerns do indeed exist and that the regulatory or antitrust authorities have the unenviable task of preserving competition, not competitors, in a new and rapidly evolving market.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.33061 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Vergote, Brecht G. W. |
| Contributors | Janda, Richard (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Laws (Institute of Air and Space Law.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001826956, proquestno: MQ75373, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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