Airline mergers - A longer view

This paper presents a long-run analysis of three airline mergers. In contrast to short-run studies that compare relative fares From a year before to a year after a merger, this paper examines relative-fares and route competition for several years before and after the mergers. This captures trends that preceded the mergers as well as effects of the mergers that take longer than a year to materialise. The results, which need to be interpreted with caution, suggest that the effects of some mergers are benign while others can lead to significant fare increases.