Market Power, Cost Efficiency and Pricing Strategies of Domestic Airline Industry

I dedicate my dissertation to my beloved family and my advisor. I have to thank my parents for their love and support throughout my life. A special feeling of gratitude to my husband, Weiwei Yang. He always supports every decision that I make during life. His enduring love and encouragement ring in my ears. Also, I always appreciate the encouragement from my brother, Yong Wang. He always cheers me up when I am unhappy. I will always appreciate what my advisor, Levent Kutlu has done for me. Levent is a nice and knowledgeable advisor and friend to me. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are a number of people without whom this thesis might not have been written, for the guidance and support as my advisor throughout the three years for completing this research and writing the dissertation. Levent inspires me about the research idea and helps me with the research methodologies. His hard work and accomplishments in research always encourage me. Levent is also my friend who shares happiness with me. Dr. Vivek Ghosal, as my secondary advisor, provides me insights about the research from industrial perspectives. I would like to thank him for the comments from empirical aspects on my dissertation. Dr. Byung-Cheol Kim gives me a lot of constructive suggestions on the theoretical sections. His pure research spirit sets an example for me. Dr. Usha C. Nair-Reichert has helped me a lot since the first day I entered Economics Ph.D. program. She encourages me in the research and more importantly, she helps me a lot in life as a friend. Dr. Jerry Thursby, from College of Business, provides me many helpful suggestions on the theoretical framework, as well as the empirical parts. His suggestions improve my dissertation a lot. Besides my committee members, I have to express my appreciations and deep gratitude to Dr. Emilson Caputo Delfino Silva. He is the first professor who collaborates with me. His knowledge and patience help me a lot build a systematic understanding of academic research. Also, I would like to thank Dr. Mikhail M. Klimenko for his suggestions on job market. provide us a good research environment by providing the Ph.D. students stable financial supports and teaching opportunities. Also, I would like to thank the advisors in School of Economics, Tony Gallego and Jyldyz Hughes. They provide me great help with my teaching assistant work. I highly appreciate the good research and life …