>From today's WSJ. How's that airline dereg working out for you?
Some big-city air routes have been hit with punishing price increases of 40% and 50%, and other well-traveled paths likely face big fare hikes in the future. It's the fallout from airline mergers, and the planned combination of American Airlines and US Airways LCC +3.11% could bring a new round of hefty fare increases. When two competitors combine to dominate prime routes, those markets tend to bear the brunt of higher prices. Consider United Airlines and Continental Airlines, which used to compete for customers flying between Chicago and Houston, for example. After the two airlines merged in 2010, the combined company, which took the United name, now carries 79% of the traffic traveling between Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport and Chicago's O'Hare Airport, not counting connecting passengers. United's average fare on that route soared 57% in the three months ended September 2012 compared with the same period three years earlier, according to Department of Transportation data compiled by consulting firm Oliver Wyman. By comparison, United's total average domestic price per mile over the same three-year period went up only 16%. Full article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324010704578414813368268482.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
