Are alleged efficiency gains in airline mergers for real? A research on the productivity of the Brazilian airline industry

Abstract

Aware of the potential concentration effects of Merger and Acquisitions operations in the market, Airlines advocate efficiency gains to justify these business combinations. Most of the literature in this area focus on mature, well-developed markets, but on the last decade two significant operations were witnessed in the Brazilian market. The methodology used in this study is comprised by a qualitative analysis complimented by an efficiency calculation, regarding the input-output relationship, using Total Factor Productivity calculations. Results show that efficiency gains on Azul-Trip merger were focused on overhead and administrative expenses and that the acquisition of Webjet by Gol provided no efficiency gains.