passengers worrying about rates and routes. the airlines respond by saying that the merger will actually create more options for customers. but i m not holding my breath. ironically it s because of the prior mergers that the american/u.s. airways marriage is problematic and being challenged. this merger would create the world s largest airline and we d be left with four airlines controlling 80% of the u.s. market for air travel. there s a bank analogy to be made here. bigger rarely seems to be better. when i swap travel stories with friends and colleagues, no one seems to single out the giants for good service. more likely is that they ll reference jet blue, virgin, alaska airlines, or even southwest. speaking of jet blue, that airline happens to lease half of the takeoff and landing slots at reagan from american airlines and would therefore be vulnerable if the merger proceeds. this dispute will probably end before you can put your seats and tray tables in an upright and locked positi
the prices for all of this would be seriously increased. washington national reagan airport, one of the key hubs that they are also worried about, a merged american/u.s. airways would have 69% of takeoff and landing slots, too much they now believe for the justice department. they re also concerned about strategy. airlines like u.s. airways with their advantage fares, they say they would be pilled out if this deal went to head. but, other deals went to head so what was wrong with this one? this is what happens if you re last to the party. delta/northwest, ding! approved. united/continental, that one happened in the teeth of the recession, these two airlines needed to do a deal, ding! approved. things are getting better, passengers are coming back, profits are starting. now the justice department is worried about competition.
the merger would create more options for customers. i m not holding my breath. it s because of the prior mergers that the usairways/american marriage would be challenged. this would create the world s largest airline, and we would be left with four airlines controlling 80% of the u.s. market for air travel. bigger rarely seems to be better. when i swap travel stories with friends and colleagues, no one seems to single out the giants for good service. more likely they ll reference jet blue, virgin, alaska airlines or even southwest. speaking of jet blue, that airline happens to lease half of its takeoff and landing slots at reagan from american airlines. and would thereforebe vulnerable. this dispute will probably be settled before you can put your
attorneys general from six states and the district of columbia filed a lawsuit, challenging the $11 billion merger of american airlines and usairways. now, the airline merger would create the world s largest airline. but the lawsuit says it would substantially lessen competition for commercial air travel. so the top concern really is those local markets. the justice department said, for example, right here in washington, d.c. area, the national airport where the combined airline would control 69% of takeoff and landing slots, and 63% of the routes out of national. so that becomes the issue. just monopolizing a local market. so, again, that is the breaking news here, carol. we are still going through all of this, but the headline here is that the justice department and attorneys general from six states and the district of columbia, have filed this
and when we lose competition, states. that s never good when it comes to price control. reporter: the justice department used a flight today to illustrate what s at stake. they say this round trip from miami to cincinnati costs $471 on us airways and $751 on american. if the two airlines merge, the justice department says us airways aggressive discounting could disappear. oaf points say it would reduce competition, cut service and increase fees. at airports like reagan national near d.c. where the two carriers operate, a combined airline would control 69% of the take-off and landing slots. in a joint statement, the airlines say they plan to fight the lawsuit. this spring the ceos defended the merger. we would be able to provide better service to consumers. this is creating enhanced