We analyze consumer preferences for airline service attributes between Ponta Delgada and Lisbon: the
most important air corridor between the Azores and Mainland Portugal. Owing to stringent regulations,
which fall under the European Union Public Service Obligations (PSOs) domain, there are no revealed
preferences data suitable to study consumer preferences. Hence, we conduct a stated preferences choice
game and estimate a microeconometric model à la McFadden. Our results are statistically significant and
imply willingness to pay measures economically high for attributes such as punctuality warranties and
comfort. Willingness to pay for additional daily flights is quite low. This result is important to how should
the policy maker liberalize this sector.
