Espirales. Revista multidisciplinaria de investigación científica, Vol. 6, No. 42
October - December - 2022. e-ISSN 2550-6862. pp 30-42
DOI https://doi.org/10.31876/er.v6i43.829
Domestic market share by routes, frequencies and airlines
to and from the Quito International Airport
Cuota de mercado nacional por rutas, frecuencias y aerolíneas desde y hacia el
Aeropuerto Internacional de Quito
María Gracia Ribadeneira Páez*
Jonathan Luis Cruz-Pierard**
Received: May 13, 2022
Approved: August 12, 2022
* Degree in Tourism Business Administration
and Environmental Conservation,
independent researcher, Quito, Ecuador,
maria.ribadeneira@ute.edu.ec
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7654-2947
** Master in Tourism Management
Professor at UTE University.
jonathan.cruz@ute.edu.ec Quito, Ecuador,
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6960-2662
Abstract
The objective of this study was to identify the market share of
domestic commercial air transportation by routes, frequencies
and airlines from Mariscal Sucre International Airport during the
weekly period from June 20 to 24, 2022. Through descriptive
quantitative research, which sought to specify characteristics,
variables and relevant concepts to measure the domestic market
share. Through the results obtained, it is concluded that of the
four airlines that operate domestic flights in Ecuador, Latam
Airlines showed dominance in this market by routes and
frequencies to and from the Mariscal Sucre International Airport
in Quito during the weekly period from June 20 to 24, 2022.
Keyword:
market share, airlines, domestic operation,
frequencies, routes
Cite this:
Ribadeneira, M., Cruz-Pierad, J. (2022).
Domestic market share by routes,
frequencies and airlines to and from the
Quito International Airport. Espirales.
Revista Multidisciplinaria de investigación
científica, 6(42), 30-43
María Gracia Ribadeneira Páez, Jonathan Luis Cruz-Pierard
Espirales. Revista multidisciplinaria de investigación científica, Vol. 6, No. 42
October - December - 2022. e-ISSN 2550-6862. pp 30-43
31
Introduction
It is specified that market share is the percentage of market corresponding to a
company against its competitors (Kotler & Amstrong, 2012; Harris & Nguyen,
2022), being the case of the air market that formed by the origin-destination
routes handled by several airlines and a dominant company that shows a relevant
presence in the market with a percentage higher than 40% (Gonzales, 2013). In
the words of the Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics (s.f, cited in
Ribadeneira, Vega & Cruz, 2021) they are identified as commercial air service
companies that are legally authorized to operate in a country and are one of the
elements that are part of air traffic and air connectivity.
It is for this reason, and based on the concept related to airlines mentioned
above, that it is possible to speak of the "passenger air transport service
operating through national or foreign airlines, that performs transport on a
regular or non-scheduled basis with established routes and schedules" (Rosales
Tapia, 2015). Also, to execute this service, a technical organization of
frequencies is required, as Beloba, Odoni, & Barnhart (2009) point out, flight
frequency is the number of times an airline provides service between an origin
and a destination considered as one of the most important factors for an airline
to measure its market share, together with the departure schedule of each of the
routes.
In 2017, the research conducted by Sandra Rivera Flores and Mario Rivera Flores,
that was about the design of internationalization strategies of the flight company
Tame, mentions that commercial air traffic in Ecuador was an event that began
from the flight made by Elia Liut in 1920, who piloted a plane from Guayaquil to
Resumen
El objetivo de este estudio fue identificar la participación de mercado
del transporte aéreo comercial nacional por rutas, frecuencias y
aerolíneas desde el Aeropuerto Internacional Mariscal Sucre durante
el período semanal del 20 al 24 de junio de 2022. A través de una
investigación cuantitativa descriptiva, en la que se buscó precisar
características, variables y conceptos relevantes para medir la
participación del mercado doméstico. A través de los resultados
obtenidos, se concluye que de las cuatro aerolíneas que operan
vuelos domésticos en el Ecuador, Latam Airlines mostró dominio en
este mercado por rutas y frecuencias desde y hacia el Aeropuerto
Internacional Mariscal Sucre de Quito durante el periodo semanal del
20 al 24 de junio de 2022.
Palabra clave:
cuota de mercado, aerolíneas, operación doméstica,
frecuencias, rutas
Domestic market share by routes, frequencies and airlines to and from the Quito International Airport
Espirales. Revista multidisciplinaria de investigación científica, Vol. 6, No. 42
October - December - 2022. e-ISSN 2550-6862. pp 30-43
32
Quito. Thanks to this moment, the development of aviation in the country began
and by 1946 the General Directorate of Civil Aviation [DGAC], the entity that to
this day regulates aeronautical activity in this territory, was created.
Fifteen years later, the Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transportes Aéreos
[SCADATA], later known as Avianca, began operations in the country and in
1957 Ecuatoriana de Aviación was born as one of the national airlines with a high
concentration of international operations on routes to Cali, Lima, Miami, New
York, Los Angeles, Bogota, Caracas, Panama, Mexico, Santiago and Buenos
Aires, but ceased operations definitively in 2006. In 1962 Transportes Aéreos
Militares Ecuatorianos [TAME] was created as the country's flagship carrier and
leader in the domestic market, and in 1985 Aerolineas Galapagos [AeroGal]
appeared, operating domestic flights to Galapagos, Quito, Coca, Lago Agrio,
Manta and Guayaquil. In 2010 this airline was dissolved when it was absorbed
by Avianca to be called Avianca Ecuador; in 2002 the flag carrier of Chile, LAN,
started operations in the country and after the opening of Latin American market
opportunities, it began to acquire other airlines and create subsidiaries, such as
LAN Ecuador, which began operations under that brand in 2003 (Rivera & Rivera,
2017).
By 2018 Aeroregional was formed as another airline that would help promote
domestic connectivity, starting its regular commercial operations on the Cuenca-
Quito- Guayaquil route a year later, and after the unfortunate bankruptcy of
TAME in 2020, Equinoccial Air [Equair] was founded, a new Ecuadorian airline
that began operations from Quito to Guayaquil in 2022 (Ministerio de Transporte
y Obras Públicas, 2022).
Therefore, the object of study of this research is based on identifying the market
share of domestic commercial air transport of passengers by routes, frequencies
and airlines from Quito International Airport during a weekly period of time from
June 20 to 24, 2022. Thus, this research is based on a bibliographic review as a
theoretical basis for research and the collection and analysis of data, from a
weekly cut, for the measurement of market share.
Materials and methods
In order to establish guidelines through data collection based on numerical
measurement and statistical analysis, this research used a descriptive
quantitative research approach, which seeks to specify important characteristics
of the study phenomenon, in addition to defining variables and measuring
concepts, in this case, the participation of the domestic market.
María Gracia Ribadeneira Páez, Jonathan Luis Cruz-Pierard
Espirales. Revista multidisciplinaria de investigación científica, Vol. 6, No. 42
October - December - 2022. e-ISSN 2550-6862. pp 30-43
33
In addition, the analytical-synthetic method was used, which allows breaking
down a whole into its parts to analyze the data obtained from the results.
In this research, the review of secondary sources of information (bibliographic)
was used as the technique to argue the theoretical basis of the research and to
obtain quantitative data that help to numerically dimension the results.
Therefore, the search, review and selection of information to support the
research was based on data taken from the official websites of airports, airlines,
other research and governmental agencies, which were validated and processed
through bibliographic files and information reliability criteria.
Results
The results obtained from the data collection and analysis of the variables
studied are presented and analyzed below. For a better synthesis of data, the
graphs and tables use acronyms corresponding to the codes established by the
International Air Transport Association [IATA], for each pair of cities and airlines,
except for Aeroregional, which used the code established by the International
Civil Aviation Organization [ICAO].
Table 1.
Domestic routes by airline weekly cut-off June 20 to 24
Latam
Airlines
(LA)
Avianca
Airlines
(AV)
Aeroregional
(RER)
Equair
(HN)
49
25
0
0
14
27
0
0
0
0
8
0
137
109
0
58
32
33
0
8
14
16
0
7
12
0
10
0
4
0
28
0
262
210
46
73
Note: UIO: Quito; CUE: Cuenca; MEC: Manta; ETR: Santa Rosa; GYE: Guayaquil;
GPS: Galápagos- Baltra; SCY: Galápagos-San Cristóbal; OCC: Coca; LOH: Loja.
Source: Authors, 2022
Regarding the variables of airlines and frequencies, it was found that for the
weekly cut-off from June 20 to 24, 2022, the total number of domestic flights
operated by the four airlines that provide this service was 591. Latam Airlines,
Domestic market share by routes, frequencies and airlines to and from the Quito International Airport
Espirales. Revista multidisciplinaria de investigación científica, Vol. 6, No. 42
October - December - 2022. e-ISSN 2550-6862. pp 30-43
34
Avianca and EquAir concentrate their domestic operation on the route to
Guayaquil, with 137, 109 and 58 flights respectively, while Aeroregional
concentrates it on the route to Loja, with 28 flights of its total.
For this reason, the market share of each airline with respect to the total number
of frequencies accounted for is shown below.
Chart 1.
Market share of domestic operations by airline
Source: Authors, 2022
As shown in the Chart above, Latam is the airline that obtained the highest
concentration of market share in domestic operation, representing 44.33% of
the total number of frequencies accounted for the weekly cut-off from June 20
to 24, 2022. Avianca ranked second with 35.53%, Equair with 12.4% and
Aeroregional with 7.8%.
On the other hand, each airline is analyzed below with respect to the distribution
of direct domestic flights of each one, thus exposing the most representative
route of the total operated by each airline.
44,33%
35,53%
12,35%
7,8%
Título del gráfico
LA AV HN RER
María Gracia Ribadeneira Páez, Jonathan Luis Cruz-Pierard
Espirales. Revista multidisciplinaria de investigación científica, Vol. 6, No. 42
October - December - 2022. e-ISSN 2550-6862. pp 30-43
35
Chart 2.
Latam airline's direct domestic flights operation
Source: Authors, 2022
Thus, it has been determined that of the total number of flights operated by
Latam during the weekly cut-off from June 20 to 24, 2022, 52.3% of domestic
operations are the percentage representation of the 137 frequencies accounted
for in Table 1, to the city of Guayaquil. In addition, it is observed that the next
route with the highest operation performed by this airline is Quito-Cuenca-Quito
with 18.7%, followed by: Quito-Baltra-Quito with 12.2%, Quito-Manta-Quito
with 5.3%, Quito-San Cristobal-Quito with 5.3%, Quito-Francisco de Orellana-
Quito with 4.6% and Quito-Loja-Quito with 1.5%. It is evident that this airline
does not operate on the Quito-Santa Rosa-Quito route.
18,7%
5,3%
52,3%
12,2%
5,3%
4,6%
1,5%
UIO-CUE-UIO UIO-MEC-UIO UIO-ETR-UIO UIO-GYE-UIO
UIO-GPS-UIO UIO-SCY-UIO UIO-OCC-UIO UIO-LOH-UIO
Domestic market share by routes, frequencies and airlines to and from the Quito International Airport
Espirales. Revista multidisciplinaria de investigación científica, Vol. 6, No. 42
October - December - 2022. e-ISSN 2550-6862. pp 30-43
36
Chart 3.
Avianca's direct domestic flights operation
Source: Authors, 2022
Likewise, it has determined that of the total number of flights operated by
Avianca during the weekly cut-off from June 20 to 24, 2022, the above Chart
shows that 51.9% of domestic operations are the percentage representation of
the 109 frequencies accounted in Table 1 for this airline, to the city of Guayaquil.
In addition, the routes operated by Avianca that follow in percentage to the
aforementioned are: Quito-Baltra-Quito with 15.7%, Quito-Manta-Quito with
12.9%, Quito-Cuenca-Quito with 11.9% and Quito-San Cristóbal-Quito with
7.6%. It was also identified that there is no operation on the Quito-Francisco de
Orellana-Quito or Quito-Loja or Quito-Santa Rosa-Quito routes.
11,9%
12,9%
51,9%
15,7%
7,6%
UIO-CUE-UIO UIO-MEC-UIO UIO-ETR-UIO UIO-GYE-UIO
UIO-GPS-UIO UIO-SCY-UIO UIO-OCC-UIO UIO-LOH-UIO
María Gracia Ribadeneira Páez, Jonathan Luis Cruz-Pierard
Espirales. Revista multidisciplinaria de investigación científica, Vol. 6, No. 42
October - December - 2022. e-ISSN 2550-6862. pp 30-43
37
Chart 4.
Aeroregional's direct domestic flight operation
Source: Authors, 2022
Of the total number of flights operated by Aeroregional during the weekly cut-
off from June 20 to 24, 2022, the above Chart shows that 60.9% of domestic
operations are represented by the 46 frequencies listed in Table 1 to the city of
Loja, followed by 21.7% for the Quito-Francisco de Orellana-Quito route and
Quito-Santa Rosa-Quito with 17.4%. As with the other airlines, it was also
identified that this airline does not operate flights to Guayaquil, Cuenca, Baltra,
San Cristóbal and Manta.
21,7%
60,9%
17,4%
UIO-OCC-UIO UIO-LOH-UIO UIO-ETR-UIO
Domestic market share by routes, frequencies and airlines to and from the Quito International Airport
Espirales. Revista multidisciplinaria de investigación científica, Vol. 6, No. 42
October - December - 2022. e-ISSN 2550-6862. pp 30-43
38
Chart 5.
Equair airline's direct domestic flight operations
Source: Authors, 2022
In the same way, of the total number of flights operated by Equair during the
weekly cut-off from June 20 to 24, 2022, the above Chart shows that 70.5% of
domestic operations are the percentage representation of the 73 frequencies
accounted in Table 1 to the city of Guayaquil, as occurred with Latam and
Avianca. It is followed by the Quito-Baltra- Quito route with 11% and the Quito-
San Cristóbal- Quito route with 9.6%. Equair did not operate from Quito to
Francisco de Orellana, Loja, Santa Rosa, Cuenca and Manta.
79,5%
11,0%
9,6%
UIO-GYE-UIO UIO-GPS-UIO UIO-SCY-UIO
María Gracia Ribadeneira Páez, Jonathan Luis Cruz-Pierard
Espirales. Revista multidisciplinaria de investigación científica, Vol. 6, No. 42
October - December - 2022. e-ISSN 2550-6862. pp 30-43
39
Chart 6.
Domestic commercial air transportation by province
Source: Authors, 2022
On the other hand, as shown in the chart above, the provinces of Ecuador that
currently operate direct domestic flights from Quito airport are: Pichincha with
40.4%, Guayas with 30.7%, Galapagos with 11.1%, Azuay with 7.5%, Manabí
with 4.1%, Loja with 3.2%, Orellana with 2.2% and El Oro 0.8%. This made it
easier to identify that, based on the sample taken from the weekly cut-off from
June 20 to 24, 2022, there is no domestic air transportation operation in 16 of
the 24 provinces that make up the national territory.
Due to the fact that Ecuador is divided by planning zones to facilitate its
development, the scope of domestic operation is presented and analyzed
below, taking into account the number of airlines operating during the weekly
cut-off from June 20 to 24, 2022 in each of the 9 existing zones, which are: Zone
1(Esmeraldas, Imbabura, Carchi and Sucumbíos) Zone 2 (Pichicha without the
Metropolitan District of Quito , Napo and Orellana), Zone 3 (Cotopaxi,
Tungurahua, Chimborazo and Pastaza) Zone 4 ( Manabí and Santo Domingo de
los Tsáchilas), Zone 5 (Santa Elena, Bolívar, Los Ríos, Galápagos and Guayas
except Guayaquil, San Borondón and Durán) zone 6 (Cañar, Azuay and Morona
Santiago), zone 7 (El Oro, Loja and Zamora Chinchipe), zone 8 (Guayaquil, San
Borondón and Durán), zone 9 (Metropolitan District of Quito).
40,4
2,2
11,1
4,1
30,7
7,5
0,8
3,2
0,0 5,0 10,0 15,0 20,0 25,0 30,0 35,0 40,0 45,0
Pichincha
Orellana
Galápagos
Manabí
Guayas
Azuay
El Oro
Loja
Domestic market share by routes, frequencies and airlines to and from the Quito International Airport
Espirales. Revista multidisciplinaria de investigación científica, Vol. 6, No. 42
October - December - 2022. e-ISSN 2550-6862. pp 30-43
40
Chart 7.
Number of airlines per planning zones
Source: Authors, 2022
As shown in the chart above, the operation of direct domestic flights is currently
concentrated in zones 5, 8 and 9 with 3 of the 4 airlines mentioned throughout
the study (Latam, Avianca and Equair), reflecting the fact that most of the
domestic flights shown above are from Quito to Guayaquil and Galapagos. Zone
1 and 3 do not operate due to market reorganization.
Once the data has been presented and analyzed, we proceed to propose a
discussion that aligns with the stipulations of Beloba, Odoni, & Barnhart (2009),
with respect to the fact that frequency is considered one of the most important
factors for an airline to measure its market share, as evidenced by the difference
between the number of routes operated domestically by each airline in relation
to the Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito during the period from June
20 to 24, 2022.
María Gracia Ribadeneira Páez, Jonathan Luis Cruz-Pierard
Espirales. Revista multidisciplinaria de investigación científica, Vol. 6, No. 42
October - December - 2022. e-ISSN 2550-6862. pp 30-43
41
Therefore, what was proposed by (Kotler & Amstrong, 2012), in relation to
market share as the percentage of market corresponding to a company against
its competitors, is demonstrated in the participation of domestic operating
airlines, one against the other, which generate a market leadership that can be
measured through routes and frequencies. In addition, Gonzales (2013), states
that a company can be considered as dominant from 40% of participation, which
in the case of the results obtained, agrees with what was proposed since Latam
Airlines presented a percentage higher than this value with respect to its
competitors in the domestic market, both in number of routes and frequencies.
Conclusions
Based on the results obtained, it is concluded that of the four airlines that
operate domestic flights in Ecuador, Latam Airlines showed dominance in this
market by routes and frequencies to and from the Mariscal Sucre International
Airport in Quito during the weekly cut-off period from June 20 to 24, 2022.
For frequencies, it is identified that they are important factors for the
measurement of market share by airline as presented in the Quito-Guayaquil-
Quito route that registers the highest frequency in Latam's domestic operation,
with 52.3%, which allows it to dominate the domestic market. Avianca airline
appears in second place in relation to the number of routes operated in the
domestic market, differentiating itself from Latam, prioritizing the operation to
Manta airport over Cuenca airport.
For Aeroregional airline, it is evident that its domestic operation is much smaller
than the two previous ones and that it operates with airports of lower demand
in the market, such as Loja, Santa Rosa and Francisco de Orellana, the first being
the one that obtained the highest number of operations by this airline with
60.9%. In the same way, for Equair airline it shows that from its initial operations
in 2022, presents a greater participation in the domestic market in relation to
Aeroregional, which began operating in 2018. In addition, its reduced domestic
participation is justified, just like Aeroregional airline, because its market is
composed of routes with higher demand, such as those of Guayaquil, Baltra and
San Cristóbal airports.
Finally, relating Ecuador's planning zones to domestic operations, it can be
identified that zone 9, which includes Quito airport, zone 8 with Guayaquil
airport, and zone 5 with Baltra and San Cristóbal airports, concentrate the
highest frequency operation due to the number of airlines serving these routes.
Unlike zones 1 and 3, which do not operate due to market reorganization
..........................................................................................................
Domestic market share by routes, frequencies and airlines to and from the Quito International Airport
Espirales. Revista multidisciplinaria de investigación científica, Vol. 6, No. 42
October - December - 2022. e-ISSN 2550-6862. pp 30-43
42
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