World’s Largest Airlines? Proposed Merger of US Airways - American Airlines

Abstract

In the last several years, the U.S. airline industry has experienced both long-standing and novel challenges – fuel price volatility, limits to organic growth, pressures to expand globally, and slowing demand for air travel.

In April 2012, US Airways announced a move to take over American Airlines, currently in bankruptcy proceedings. The merger would combine the fourth (American) and fifth (US Airways) largest airlines nationally, making US Airways-American the largest U.S. carrier.

This is a project aimed to answer the following research questions:

1. What is the role of federal authorities in reviewing merger proposals? 2. What is the impact of Bankruptcy of American Airlines? 3. What are the defences against Anti-competitiveness of the merger? 4. What is the effect of DOJ Anti-trust suit?

Keywords: merger, american, airlines