Airlines
The Ruling Against American Airlines-JetBlue Provides a Chance To Reform Antitrust’s Rule of Reason
Herbert Hovenkamp writes that the First Court’s recent ruling against American Airlines and JetBlue for coordinating operations in New York City and Boston exemplifies the correct application of antitrust’s rule of reason, which has troubled courts and plaintiffs and led to underenforcement for decades.
How To Fix Flying in the U.S.
William J. McGee argues that airline deregulation in the United States has not delivered on its promised benefits of lower fares, increased safety, and more competition, but instead has led to industry consolidation, regional inequality, and degradation of passenger rights. McGee proposes a suite of policy recommendations to address these issues, including measures to expand geographic networks, increase airport access, encourage new entrants, simplify pricing, and improve passenger rights, labor, and safety standards.
Why Was JetBlue-Spirit Blocked and What Does it Mean for the Airline Industry?
A federal judge recently blocked the proposed merger of JetBlue and Spirit airlines on antitrust grounds, reversing antitrust enforcers’ recent history of waving through airline industry consolidation. However, while this decision affirms that mergers designed to reduce competition and raise prices violate antitrust law, it comes too late to undo the damage from 15 years of lax enforcement that allowed radical consolidation in the airline industry.
Economists Are Still Right About Airline Deregulation!
Would increasing regulation of the U.S. airline industry resolve the issues that Americans have heard about and experienced in the past few months? Clifford...
Why Consolidation Undermined the Airline Industry’s Ability to Recover from the Coronavirus Crisis
A major factor contributing to the industry’s struggles during the current crisis was the loss of resiliency due to the consolidation of the...
Chile Reaches Its Greenspan Moment
"I am in a state of shocked disbelief," former Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan said during the 2008 crisis, before confessing: "I found a...
Keeping Business Alive During the Coronavirus Crisis: Government as Buyer of Last Resort
The government has to compensate businesses and workers for their losses so that each business can re-emerge almost intact after the hibernation due to...
Colluding in Plain Sight: Study Finds Airlines Use Earnings Calls to Coordinate Capacity Reductions
What are airline executives really saying to each other with their extensive discussion of “capacity discipline”? New research from the University of Virginia finds...
