Codeshare agreements between airlines: literature review with the aid of artificial intelligence

TL;DR

This paper reviews global and Brazilian literature on airline codeshare agreements, utilizing AI tools to analyze citation networks, aiming to clarify their economic impacts and regulatory implications.

Contribution

It combines a comprehensive literature review with AI-based citation analysis to understand codeshare agreements, especially focusing on the Brazilian airline market.

Findings

Identifies key effects of codesharing on supply and prices.

Highlights regulatory and market-specific characteristics in Brazil.

Points out gaps for future research.

Abstract

Codeshare agreements are contracts that allow two or more airlines to share seats on the same flight. These agreements, which are widespread in commercial aviation as a response to highly competitive environments, have enabled the expansion of airline networks without additional costs or risks for the companies involved. The literature presents ambiguous effects associated with the practice, with evidence of increased supply and reduced prices in situations of route complementarity, while also pointing to anti-competitive impacts in markets where companies act as competitors. A review of scientific production over time, including theoretical contributions and case studies, is essential to understand the evolution of these agreements and their implications, especially in the Brazilian context, marked by its own characteristics and particular regulatory history. Thus, this article reviews the literature on codesharing, with an emphasis on the Brazilian market, and uses the Litmaps computational tool, based on artificial intelligence techniques, to support the contextual analysis of publications through their citation relationships. The ultimate goal is to identify and evaluate the main evidence accumulated over decades on the effects of these agreements in Brazil. The joint analysis of the contributions allows us to outline the current state of knowledge, characterize specificities observed in the Brazilian market, and identify gaps that may guide future studies.