Airline mergers for Minneapolis-St. Paul

New rumors have arisen in the last week of a major airline merger involving Delta and Northwest.

NWA is headquartered in Minnesota and the Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) airport is their largest hub. So people pay attention here to what's happening with NWA.


Today, the Twin Cities Star Tribune reassured the community that MSP would not lose its hub status in the event of a merger because it is a lucrative hub even in a consolidated airline market. They write:

"A merger between Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines could begin a dramatic reshaping of the aviation industry but lead to only small changes in the importance of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to the combined carrier.

"The reason is simple: Northwest makes a lot of money in the Twin Cities, a situation no suitor will want to alter."

Of course, the reason for this is the near monopoly currently enjoyed by NWA at MSP. The article notes NWA's 67% marketshare over ALL the other airlines and that according to one survey MSP customers pay 21% than the national average for comparable travel.

I can't find how many flights Delta has out of Minneapolis. I don't think it's much. But a merger can't really help when it comes to competition at Minneapolis-St Paul airport, or anywhere else in the country. So, it's not reassuring from the vantage point of consumers.


But people who are much more expert on this subject than I have been long claiming the inevitability of consolidation in the unstable and (sometimes) unprofitable airline industry.