It’s happened. Another airline merger that will create the largest airline in the world. Just a few years ago when the merger frenzy started, American took over TWA, chopped it up, spat it out, decimated St. Louis, and came out the other side as the largest airline in the world. Then, the shambles we all called USAirways was taken over by America West and even though it didn’t make the new largest airline in the world, smart management saved both airlines from going under. Then Delta and Northworst merged, and, you guessed it, we had a new world’s largest airline! Not to be left out and out done, United and Continental merged today. Do they now form the largest airline in the world? Yes, dear readers they do. “No way!” you say. The trend continues.
The United name is saved, and the Continental colors are preserved. I guess my idea of calling it Unental wasn’t accepted. We’ll all have to see if bigger truly is better. It seems in today’s world that big corporations are easy targets for complaints, seen as unfriendly, provide poor service and the like. That may be true in a mom and pop hardware store versus a large hardware chain like Lowes, but I don’t think it will apply here with the airlines. When people fly, they want options — they want lots of flights, departing every hour, to everywhere on Earth, so they can show up to the airport anytime they wish and get to where they are going with a minimum of hassles. Larger airlines can provide that, where small ones make you sit in Milwaukee for three hours to catch a connection.
There is also inherent stability with a larger airline because there are more resources in which to draw, possibly more money coming in, and more flexibility in the network. Five years ago, I personally thought that there were too many airlines in the game as they were all sucking the oxygen out of the room, but they were all failing and getting federal bailouts. A few needed to slip beneath the waters of failure, and a few needed to merge, so that we would have 5-10 solid and stable airlines (read: employers to hundreds of thousands) and not 25 airlines, all of which were limping along. Thinning the heard is exactly what’s happening now.
Only time will tell if the consumer will win with any of this. Flying the new United will certainly have it’s benefits with destinations and frequency of flights. However, prices tend to rise when there are fewer players in the game. Is that a bad thing? My definite answer is a resounding “NO!” Many airlines have failed because they couldn’t make a profit. This hurts the consumer too, because what once was service from one small town to another, is no more. What once was a viable employer has fired everyone. What once was five flights a day out of an airport is now down to one flight a day. Just because prices go up doesn’t mean the consumer loses — they often gain when airlines become stronger and more viable.