Will an Airline Merger Be Good for Consumers?

The other day, Delta airlines announced its plans for a merger with several other airlines in the near future, bringing up the question for experts and consumers to debate, Will an airline merger be better for consumers? There are two different positions on this and even experts can't seem to agree. I will outline both positions and you are the judge of it.

Right now in the United States there are currently a few large carrier airlines such as Delta, Continental Airlines, Southwest, Jet Blue and American Airlines, just to name a few. Then there are other smaller airline carriers which aren't that well known but are still used by passengers nevertheless. In total, when you count up every single airline company in the United States there are probably around 50 airline companies. While watching MSNBC, one expert made an outrageous claim that there are 100 airlines that exist in America but I sincerely doubt that the number of airline carriers is that high.

Critics who say that the airline merger will increase consumer prices believe that the mergers will put the supply and demand of airline flights to certain destinations in the hands on one or two airlines instead of several. Because there will fewer airlines traveling to the same destinations, the cost per ticket of each flight for passengers will be raised and more expensive for people to fly. Critics also say that the airline merger will create more layoffs and more unemployment within the industry. The merger of airlines will lead to a monopoly of the industry as more and smaller airline carriers will be bought out by bigger airlines or be forced to declare bankruptcy because they will not be able to compete with the cheaper ticket prices of the airlines that have merged. Critics claim that this is all a plot to monopolize the industry and any decrease in ticket fare will be short lived. Once the competition has been bought out, the airlines will increase ticket fares.

Proponents of the airline merger believe that such a merger will not only be good for the airlines but passengers as well. The airlines businesses have never fully recovered from the September 11 terrorist attacks and the flying industry has never been the same. The terrorist attacks made people scared to fly because too many people lost a loved one or friend on one of those planes or know someone who has crashed on an airplane. Despite the airplanes being safer than ever, it is still very scary to some people to board an airplane. Some airlines have had spiraling costs in fuel and security. The increased costs that airlines have to pay have led to layoffs of staff and higher unemployment within the industry.

Proponents of the airline merger believe that since costs will be lowered for airlines to pay because staff and expense costs will be shared, passengers will be able to fly cheaper as a result. Airlines claim that the merger will not affect supply and demand because there will still be plenty of airlines going to locations around the world.

Currently there are talks about a Delta and Northwest merger. Both airlines have declared for bankruptcy. Should the two giant airline companies merge, they would become the biggest airlines company in the world.