Poster 5: The last twenty years have seen dramatic upheaval and concentration in the domestic airline market. With the approval of the US Airways/American Airlines merger, four airlines will control more than 80% of all domestic traffic. Traditional merger analysis has focused on role of competition the presence of overlapping routes on the price effects of mergers. However, due to the prevalence of hub-and-spoke networks there are few overlapping routes. This project exploits the changes in airport connectivity caused by mergers to examine the price impact of the United-Continental and Delta-Northwest Airline.
