Originally Posted by
FWAAA
On the contrary. Lotsa overlap means that an alliance might permit CO and AA to cooperate on all those overlapping routes (as in STOP COMPETING), which ought to help both raise fares.
Raising fares (by removing capacity and by cooperating) is the only reason for consolidation right now. Fares are way too low and they've gotta go up.
I doubt too many intra-Texas fares will rise to obscene levels, merely due to the WN effect. WN is very strong in HOU/DAL/SAT/AUS/CRP/ELP/etc. Getting to places like TYR, LRD & BPT might become prohibitively expensive, but the WN markets should be fine.