Abstract

Intangibles have emerged in the last decade as an important issue among companies' accounting theories. Companies have implemented strategies based on the robustness of their own intellectual capital. Competitive advantage is based on the capacity to anticipate, innovate and make shared use of opportunities. In the air transportation sector, strong changes have also occurred — traditional value chains based on linear activities alignment, were replaced by a new perspective: the innovation cycle (specific intangibles recognition associated with new business models) and its impact on the operational cycle. This paper presents a theoretical framework approach about intangible assets identification and valuation in the air transportation sector as a whole. The first step of this empirical evidence is based on the Portuguese Airlines companies.