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This paper provides empirical evidence on the role played by air services as improvementin export capability of the Italian manufacturers in Europe. We find that the existence of adirect connection improves the exports of Italian firms, especially when flights are operated by traditional carriers. From the baseline econometric model, it emerges that the export elasticity to direct flights is about 4 per cent. The impact of air accessibility on exports is more pronounced on firms located in Southern Central Italy than on firms located in the Northern part of Italy.

This paper analyses the relationship between the service contract (and tender) design and the outcome of the tender in the local public tran sport. Data are collected through a survey involving about 50 territorial entities. It emerges that optimal contract (and tender) design crucially depends on the objective function of the regulator. Participation is encouraged by a semi-rigid model, by gross cost contracts, by weak incentives and by opportunity of sub-contracting. Vice versa, rebates are favoured by long duration of the contract, by strong incentives and (again) by opportunity for sub-contracting. Finally, having a new winner is favoured by strong incentives, by asset availability.

We study the link between air accessibility (measured by non-stop flights offer) and the manufacturing export of the Italian regions in Europe using a panel of 12,000 half-yearly observations ranging from 1998 to 2010. The analysis shows that the supply of non-stop flights provided by full-service carriers has a positive impact on the exports of Italian regions, whilst no significant evidence of this is found for low-cost carriers. This last result may be partially due to a lower *flight frequency offered by low-cost carriers and to the intrinsic features of low-cost carrier business model (*flying to secondary airports, imposing strict baggage restrictions, providing limited seat space, etc.).

Based on two strands of theoretical research, this paper provides new evidence on how fares are jointly affected by in-flight seat availability and purchasing date. As capacity-driven theories predict, it emerges that fares monotonically and substantially increase with the flights occupancy rate. Moreover, as suggested in the literature on intertemporal price discrimination, the adoption of advance purchase discounts is widespread as the departure date nears, but it may be part of a U-shaped temporal profile, where discounts are preceded by periods of relatively higher fares. Finally, the intervention of yield management analysts appears to play a substantial role.

Questo lavoro analizza il ruolo esercitato dal trasporto aereo passeggeri nel favorire la capacità esportativa del manifatturiero italiano ruotando attorno a due interrogativi principali. In primo luogo, vuole verificare se la presenza di servizi di trasporto aereo passeggeri abbia o meno un impatto positivo sulle esportazioni; in secondo luogo vuole analizzare se la composizione dell’offerta (differente mix tra vettori low-cost e vettori tradizionali) eserciti o meno un’influenza sulla propensione ad esportare. Questo contributo appartiene al filone di ricerca che studia le determinanti della crescita e dello sviluppo (in primis le infrastrutture di trasporto) anche tenendo conto del loro impatto sulle esportazioni.