Alfred Kahn, the eminent economist and chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board who oversaw airline deregulation in the 1970s, has published a fascinating new working paper on the AEI Reg-Markets Center site. He addresses the difference between “liberal” and “progressive” views on economic policy and regulation, and he argues that “progressivism” as defined by those [...]
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Posted in Evan's Commentary, tagged airports, business, competition, Merger Mania 2008, mergers, network airlines, regulation, united, us airways on April 28, 2008 | No Comments »
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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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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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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The press conference is streaming live at www.newglobalairline.com. It got started about 10 minutes late.
Richard Anderson (Delta CEO): this is a financially powerful merger. Also: it’s especially necessary due to record-high fuel prices. He claims Delta-NWA will be “better able to handle the volatility of fuel” than as standalone carriers. Transaction creates over “6,000 new [...]
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Merger Mania 2008 is back and kicking. Delta and Northwest have announced their merger plan. See this Bloomberg story for more. I’ll have more on this later, but for now, you can look back at my overview of the DL-NW antitrust issues. After the failure of the two airlines’ pilot groups to agree on a [...]
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My article about the Alitalia privatization debacle — and how it’s being complicated by next week’s elections in Italy — is now up at Forbes.com.
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This AP story on Aviation.com has a troublesome lede. Check it out: “China plans to set up its own company to make passenger jumbo jets, making it less dependent on Boeing and Airbus, official Xinhua News Agency said Thursday.” (Emphasis added.) I’ve blogged previously about China’s aerospace ambitions. Here, the reporter errs in his word [...]
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Posted in Evan's Fiskings, tagged competition, congress, continental, delta, Merger Mania 2008, mergers, northwest, regulation, united on February 17, 2008 | No Comments »
In a BusinessWeek op-ed, House Transportation Committee chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) has come out firmly against airline mergers involving the big six.
Yet this latest round of rumored mergers, which includes a United-Continental scenario, as well as a Delta-Northwest combination, is significant. It would mean further consolidation in the airline industry, further reductions in choice for [...]
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As part of Merger Mania 2008, United and Continental are now in talks to merge. United has been eager to merge with someone — anyone — for a few years now, but Continental has been reluctant to do so, preferring to remain profitably independent and well-managed unless industry-wide consolidation forces its hand. There are any [...]
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