The toxic tango of United and US Airways

Now that Continental has turned down suitor United, the latter is weighing a desperation move: merging with US Airways to create the world’s new largest airline (surpassing Delta-Northwest, assuming that goes through). The airlines may announce a tie-up within the next fortnight. Therefore, it’s time for another Merger Mania 2008 antitrust evaluation.
As you’ll remember from [...]

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Continental content to go it alone, and more

The big news of the day is that — contrary to many expectations — Continental Airlines has decided not to pursue a merger. CEO Larry Kellner conveyed the board’s decision in a letter to employees yesterday. This is probably the best decision Continental could have made here. [AP via MSNBC; see also PlaneBuzz and Today [...]

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“All things are lawful. . .”

“. . . wrote St. Paul, ‘but not all things are profitable.’ And so it is with the proposed merger of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines.”
My new op-ed on the Delta-Northwest merger is up on American.com.

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The NWA legacy

Joke circulating among Northwest pilots: “They’re going to incorporate elements of both corporate identities in the merger. From Delta, we get ‘Delta.’ From Northwest, we get ‘Airlines.’”

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All politics is local: liveblogging the Delta-Northwest hearings

Notes: I am leaving out redundant passages, which often occur in congressional hearings. Unless something is in quotation marks, it is a paraphrase of what a speaker is saying. Editorial comments are so noted.
The antitrust task force of the House Judiciary Committee is having a hearing to assess airline competition and the proposed merger between [...]

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UK Competition Commission: BAA is baad for competition

As expected, the British Competition Commission released its interim report on competitive effects of BAA’s ownership of several UK airports (accounting for more than 60 percent of UK travelers), including most of the capacity in greater London and lowland Scotland. The conclusion?
The CC is inclined to the view that common ownership of the BAA airports [...]

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Anderson and Steenland to hit the Hill

Delta CEO Richard Anderson and Northwest CEO Doug Steenland will be on Capitol Hill Thursday to testify before the following congressional panels:

House Judiciary Committee, Antitrust Task Force, April 24, 10:30 a.m., Rayburn 2141.
Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, April 24, 2:00 p.m., Dirksen 226.

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Some random numbers on Delta-NWA

From Mike Boyd’s weekly update:
7,100+
Based on an independent Airports:USA analysis, the number of overlapping markets technically represented by the merger of Delta and Northwest, defined as city pairs where a consumer can possibly book either carrier.
14
Out of the top 100 overlapping markets, the number (other than routes connecting existing DL/NW hubs) where the combined market [...]

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Berlusconi cuts of Alitalia’s nose to spite face

Because he doesn’t approve of the Air France-KLM bid for Alitalia, incoming prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is shopping the airline around . . . and resuming talks with Aeroflot. [ATW Daily News]

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The WSJ takes up airline mergers, and more

Today’s Wall Street Journal has several articles on the FAA, the Delta-NWA merger, and other issues, but three in particular are worth pointing out:

Holman Jenkins takes issue with the claim that mergers are the ticket for the perennially unprofitable airline industry. He argues that instead airlines should be allowed to fix prices to maintain reliable [...]

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