In this example taken from our last game session at ENAC, one team (Flight club) used the option to precommit and chose to operate flights with small aircraft with high confort (much space between seats) on route A/D.

Its competitor, Air Albi, later responded by differentiating and choosing big aircraft with little confort (little space between seats). In contrast to the standard Stackelberg result for undifferentiated goods, the first mover did not offer more seats than its follower, since the “most profitable customers” (the business passengers, who tend to pay less attention to price and more attention to comfort and to the convenience of departure times) are less numerous than leisure travelers.

Eventually, this maximum differentiation benefited both firms.

by