Posted in Evan's News and Quick Takes, tagged history, Merger Mania 2008, regulation on May 12, 2008 | 1 Comment »
[Alfred] Kahn and the [Civil Aeronautics Board] were facing not just one but three airline mergers in the summer of 1978. In addition to the battle for National, Continental Airlines and Western Air Lines had filed for approval to merge, and two local service carriers — North Central Airlines and Southern Airways — also wanted [...]
Posted in Evan's News and Quick Takes, tagged business, Merger Mania 2008 on May 1, 2008 | No Comments »
The main — and really only — important reason for publicly held airlines to merge is to increase the value for investors. The idea in the industry is that a theoretically well-designed merger will increase this value, which is why big airlines are pursuing tie-ups so ardently. Along comes Moody’s to throw a well-deserved wrench [...]
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 [...]
Posted in Evan's News and Quick Takes, tagged delta, Merger Mania 2008, northwest on April 25, 2008 | 2 Comments »
“. . . 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.
Posted in Evan's News and Quick Takes, tagged delta, humor, Merger Mania 2008, northwest on April 24, 2008 | No Comments »
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.’”
Posted in Evan's Commentary, tagged competition, congress, delta, Merger Mania 2008, mergers, northwest on April 24, 2008 | No Comments »
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 [...]
Posted in Evan's News and Quick Takes, tagged congress, delta, Merger Mania 2008, northwest on April 21, 2008 | No Comments »
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.
Posted in Evan's News and Quick Takes, tagged delta, Merger Mania 2008, northwest on April 21, 2008 | 1 Comment »
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 [...]
Posted in Evan's Commentary, tagged congress, delta, Merger Mania 2008, mergers, northwest on April 15, 2008 | No Comments »
Congress may usually cleave along party lines, but it often divides along local lines as well. We are seeing this bipartisan and narrow parochialism in congressmen’s response to the news of the Delta-Northwest merger. Congress is dividing along regional lines of business interest in support of or opposition to the tie-up. The dynamics of the [...]
Posted in Evan's Commentary, tagged business, competition, delta, Merger Mania 2008, mergers, northwest on April 15, 2008 | 3 Comments »
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 [...]
