Originally Posted by
whlinder
This is the #5 and #10 US airlines combining, with 12 total routes they both operate on, only 2 of which have no other competitors on it. The #5 airline is ~25% the size of #4, and #10 is ~25% the size of #5.
The DOJ literally just blocked a merger between the #6 and 7 airlines to protect competition and market consolidation, and won a suit to block a comprehensive alliance (where they could coordinate schedules and pricing) between #1 and #6. I'm going with 2023 enplaned pax count as the size ranking but I am sure everyone gets the idea of the relativity here.
Yeah. And that #10 airline is in fairly dire financial straits largely because the #4 airline (or arguably as high as #1 depending on how you count — the big 4 are the oligopoly for which you could make an argument that any one is the biggest) has engaged in anticompetitive behavior by moving in and dumping capacity at unprofitable rates subsidized by the rest of their network.
This isn’t even a big enough merger to bump AS from #5 to #4 — not even close. It’s really just the #10 airline — which really operates in a market distinct from all other North American Airlines — going away as it might well with or without this merger.