Earlier this week the Justice Department settled its lawsuit against the merger of American Airlines and US Airways. In order to settle, the airline had to “agree to give up slots at key airports around the country to low-cost competitors“.
With the merger officially going through, American and US Air will now combine to form the world’s largest airline.
Find out more about the merger from:
With this weeks big airline news I thought it was best to share an old post related to the topic for this week’s Flashback Friday. The post has an interesting graphic from USA Today (in 2011) which shows the transformation of the airline industry over the past 33 years.
Here is the post:
- Airline Mergers & Bankruptcies Interactive Map
The post was originally published on December 30, 2011
USA Today has a very interesting map detailing airline mergers and bankruptcies. It shows how the airline industry has been transformed over the past 33 years.
In the 1970s there were 10 major airlines and it shows that by 2012 there would be only 5.
Check it out:
Some Key Dates:
- 1979 Allegheny Airlines becomes US Air
- 1982 Eastern acquire Braniff’s South American routes. Braniff shuts down
- 1989 Southwest’s annual revenue exceeds $1 billion making it a “major” airline according to the federal government
- 1990 American buys Eastern Air Lines’ Latin routes
- 1991 Eastern shuts down. Delta buys Pan Am (shuttle & Atlantic routes). Pan Am shuts down
- 1992 United buys Pan Am’s Latin & Caribbean routes
- 2001 American buys TWA, TWA name disappears from flight listings in 2001.
- 2009 Delta buys Northwest, the new airline is named Delta
- 2010 United buys Continental. The Continental name will disappear in 2012
- 2011 American files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to help restructure debts & costs. AA says there will be no disruptions for its fliers.
I wonder what will be with the airline industry for 2012. Maybe we will see more consolidation? Could an AA merger with US Airways be in the plans? Only time will tell.
To see the interactive map, go to USA Today
That wraps up this week’s Flashback Friday.
Like with most things, less choices= higher prices, which is definitely not a good thing for the consumer. Time will tell if the merger is a good thing, I can’t see how we will benefit from this.
With the American Airlines- US Airways merger a done deal it looks like USA Today needs to update their interactive map. Do you think consolidation is good for the airline industry? What are your thoughts on the AA-US Air merger?
