The Delta - Northwest merger ... what it means
Where Airline Mergers Would Hurt Travelers Most
Intro (view chart for details):
If several of the nation's big airlines merge, as industry executives have been advocating for months, airfares would probably rise, some cities might get a bit of additional service, and other cities would see flights scaled back significantly. With help from the trade publication Airline Weekly, we've examined the top 50 airports to determine the likely effects of two possible megamergers: a Delta-Northwest alliance and a United-Continental hookup. Here are the cities that would be most deeply affected:
Comment: You basically have 2 failed airlines that will become one failed airline. Flying will be less fun (is that even possible?) and more costly.
I don't know that it would hurt prices and service that much; won't the FTC insist that Northworst/Smellta give up some routes in hubs, leaving a chance for smaller, profitable, fun airlines to fly in & out of places like Detroit, Hotlanta, & MSP?
ReplyDeleteI had the fun of flying Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Penang and back....it was quite the contrast with Northworst. For that matter, the Tokyo-Singapore leg of my trip was quite different from the Minnesota-Tokyo leg.
(Minnesota nice cannot compare with the Asian penchant for customer service, to put it mildly....)
I share concerns with companies getting too big. In the short term, though, this one might actually make NW smaller in MSP and make thing better. You get a lot better service out of Chicago than you do out of MSP, too--'cause it's not just United flying in there.