The Next Airline Merger?

I believe the two most viable mergers would be Delta-Alaska and Frontier-Spirit. Delta and Alaska are already codeshare partners, and a merger would give Delta dominance over the West Coast, while feeding their growing international hub in Seattle. Frontier-Spirit would create a major ULCC force, hopefully bringing lower fares to many cities across the nation and the Caribbean/Latin America.

Delta-Alaska, if it were to occur, may be considered a “hostile takeover.” Their relationship seems to becoming more and more that way with each new route announcement. The Alaska brand may be retained on flights within Alaska, as I am sure the airline has a strong following. Delta’s big, red widget would seem out of place flying from Dead Horse to King Salmon and everywhere in between.

Frontier-Spirit would be a very interesting merger to watch. Their route networks are very complementary, with Spirit already trying to establish a presence in Denver and the West in general. This merger would be most likely to occur if Indigo Partners was unable to revive Frontier. Trenton and Wilmington would probably be cut since Spirit focuses on major markets, a practice that has been very successful.

I will enjoy reading your opinions! Please Vote!

You missed an option: RC planes and Drones. :smiling_imp:

Oh wait… already occurred!

BL.

bottled water v. tap

We are very off-topic right now, lets get back to merger dicussion.

Alrighty…

I don’t think there are any more mergers that could happen. NKS already has a huge operation at KLAS, competing with AAY and SWA there, so they really wouldn’t need FFT’s network from Denver, unless they wanted to expand to further destinations in Mexico or Central America.

If anything, either talks would happen between AAY and NKS, as they would have an even better complimenting network domestically, plus could compete with FFT on those international runs. Though if something like that were to happen, FFT would almost certainly not last.

DAL/ASA? not going to happen, especially with them announcing service to KSJC and PAJN. Direct competition there.

BL.

I don’t think there are any more mergers that could happen.

A merger will happen, whether it is 2 or 10 years away. Consolidation is the name of the game, but the industry may stabilize for a while.

NKS already has a huge operation at KLAS, competing with AAY and SWA there, so they really wouldn’t need FFT’s network from Denver

Good point. But who else has a hub at both of those airports? The (former) LCC giant Southwest Airlines. LAS has a large O&D (origin and destination) market while DEN is a great connection point.

talks would happen between AAY and NKS

Though these airlines are both ULCCs, they have very different business plans. Besides Las Vegas, Allegiant serves small markes from tourist-centerd cities (PHX, MCO, RSW) via secondary airports (AZA, SFB, PGD). Frequencies are usually no more than four times a week. Spirit, on the other hand, focuses on primary markets (look at their expansion at DFW and LAS) with more frequent service. Spirit just moved from Mesa-Gateway (a major Allegiant hub) airport to Phoenix-Sky Harbor; this demostrates the diffences in each airline’s business models.