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  • Commercial aviation helps drive more than 10M American jobs and 5 cents of every dollar of U.S. GDP

  • Commercial aviation drives more than $1 trillion per year in economic activity

  • In 2012, U.S. airlines moved more than 48,000 tons of cargo per day

  • In 2012, the value of a kilogram of U.S. merchandise exported by air averaged 121 times the value exported by sea

  • For every 100 airline jobs, some 360 are supported outside of the airline industry

  • Federal taxes constitute $61 – or 20% – of the price of a typical $300 domestic round-trip ticket

  • In 2011, U.S. airlines carried 16 percent more passengers and cargo using 10 percent less fuel than in 2000

  • Domestically, airlines drive 5% of economic activity but account for 2% of man-made GHG emissions

  • From 2000-2011, airlines reduced GHG emissions by 11% while transporting 16% more passengers and cargo

  • From 1975-2011, U.S. airlines and their partners reduced significant noise exposure by 99%

  • Commercial air travel is the safest form of intercity transportation in the United States

  • In the most recent decade, scheduled air service on U.S. airlines was seven times safer than in the 1970s

  • From 2000-2012, U.S. airlines improved the on-time arrival rate from 72.6% to 81.9%

  • From 2000-2012, U.S. airlines reduced the flight cancellation rate sharply from 3.30% to 1.29%

  • Airfares are a bargain: From 2000-2012, U.S. CPI rose 33% while average domestic fare rose just 14%

  • Adjusted for inflation, the average round-trip domestic airfare fell 15% from 2000

  • 2007 domestic flight delays cost the United States approximately $31 billion

  • In 2012, the value of U.S. merchandise exported by air reached an all-time high of $427B

  • In 2012, U.S. exports of air-travel services reached an all-time high of $39.5B, driving a $5.1B trade surplus

  • In 2012, U.S. passenger and cargo airlines spent more than $50B on fuel, averaging 36% of operating expenses

  • In 2012, U.S. airlines posted the lowest annual rate of mishandled baggage ever recorded

  • FAA projects U.S. air travel demand to top 1 billion passengers in 2027

  • In 2012, US airlines flew 83.4 million passengers in scheduled international service - a record high

  • In 2012, the total value of merchandise exported from or imported to the United States by air exceeded $927 billion

  • In 2012, 7.15 teragrams of merchandise was exported from or imported to the United States by air

U.S. Airline Mergers and Acquisitions

PubZone1
The table below is an unofficial compilation of completed (not merely proposed) mergers and acquisitions since the inception of the U.S. airline industry. Neither the U.S. Department of Transportation nor A4A maintains official records of airline M&A activity. As such, we cannot verify the accuracy of each individual entry. The table is provided as a service rather than an authoritative source. It is the only known comprehensive, centralized, publicly available source.

 

 Econ U.S. Airline Mergers and Acquisitions

 
TitleUse SHIFT+ENTER to open the menu (new window).
  
AnnouncedUse SHIFT+ENTER to open the menu (new window).
  
ClosedUse SHIFT+ENTER to open the menu (new window).
  
Resulting EntityUse SHIFT+ENTER to open the menu (new window).
  
Western Air Express / Standard Airlines5/1/1930Western Air Express
Western Air Express / Transcontinental Air Transport7/16/1930Transcontinental & Western Air
Delta Air Lines / Chicago and Southern (C&S) Air Lines5/1/1953Delta Air Lines
United Airlines / Capital Airlines6/1/1961United Airlines
Western Airlines / Pacific Northern Airlines7/1/1967Western Airlines
Frontier Airlines / Central Airlines10/1/1967Frontier Airlines
Alaska Airlines / Cordova Airlines2/1/1968Alaska Airlines
Allegheny Airlines / Lake Central Airlines3/14/1968Allegheny Airlines (later renamed US Airways)
Alaska Airlines / Alaska Coastal Airlines4/1/1968Alaska Airlines
Pacific Airlines / Bonanza Airlines / West Coast Airlines7/1/1968Air West
American Airlines / Trans Caribbean Airways3/3/1971American Airlines
Allegheny Airlines / Mohawk Airlines4/12/1972Allegheny Airlines (later renamed US Airways)
Delta Air Lines / Northeast Airlines8/1/1972Delta Air Lines
North Central Airlines / Southern Airways / Hughes Airwest7/1/1979Republic Airlines
Pan Am / National Airlines1/7/1980Pan Am
Republic Airlines / Hughes Airwest10/1/1980Republic Airlines
Continental Airlines / Texas Air Corporation10/31/1982Continental Airlines
Continental Airlines / People Express / New York Air / Frontier Airlines2/1/1987Continental Airlines
US Air / Pacific Southwest Airlines5/29/1987US Air
Alaska Airlines / Jet America10/1/1987Alaska Airlines
US Air / Piedmont Airlines8/4/1989US Air
American Airlines / Eastern Air Lines: Latin Routes7/1/1990American Airlines
American Airlines / TWA: Heathrow Routes5/2/1991American Airlines
Southwest Airlines / Muse Airlines6/25/198512/12/1985Southwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines / Republic Airlines1/23/198610/1/1986Northwest Airlines
TWA / Ozark Air Lines3/1/198610/27/1986TWA
Delta Air Lines / Western Airlines9/9/198612/16/1986Delta Air Lines
American Airlines / AirCal11/18/19864/30/1987American Airlines
Alaska Airlines / Horizon Air11/19/198612/31/1986Alaska Airlines / Horizon Air
Delta Air Lines / Pan Am Airlines (Shuttle and Atlantic Routes)7/27/199111/1/1991Delta Shuttle
United Airlines / Pan Am: Latin & Caribbean Routes12/9/19915/16/1992United Airlines
Southwest Airlines / Morris Airlines12/13/199312/31/1993Southwest Airlines
AirTran Airways / Valujet7/11/199711/17/1997AirTran Airways
American Airlines / Reno Air11/19/19982/1/1999American Airlines
Delta Air Lines / Atlantic Southeast Airlines2/16/19993/22/1999Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines / Comair10/18/199910/22/1999Delta Air Lines
American Airlines / TWA1/10/20014/9/2001American Airlines
Republic Airways / Shuttle America4/22/20055/9/2005Republic Airways
US Airways / America West Airlines5/19/20059/27/2005US Airways
SkyWest / Atlantic Southeast Airlines8/15/20059/8/2005SkyWest / ASA
Pinnacle Airlines / Colgan Air1/18/20071/18/2007Pinnacle Airlines / Colgan Air
Delta Air Lines / Northwest Airlines4/14/200812/31/2009Delta Air Lines
Southwest Airlines / ATA Airlines11/19/2008Southwest Airlines
Republic Airways / Midwest Airlines6/23/20097/31/2009Republic Airways
Republic Airways / Frontier Airlines8/14/200910/1/2009Republic Airways
United Airlines / Continental Airlines5/3/201010/1/2010United Airlines
Pinnacle Airlines / Mesaba Airlines7/1/20107/1/2010Pinnacle Airlines / Mesaba Airlines
SkyWest / Atlantic Southeast Airlines / ExpressJet Airlines8/4/201011/15/2010SkyWest / SureJet
Southwest Airlines / AirTran Airways9/27/20105/2/2011Southwest Airlines
US Airways/AMR/American Airlines2/14/2013American Airlines
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