Brussels, 28/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - United will be the name of the new entity created by the merger between the American airlines Continental Airlines and United Airlines, which was authorised by the European Commission on Tuesday 27 July, having reached the conclusion that it would not significantly hinder competition within the European Economic Area (EEA) or on transatlantic routes. The merger now needs the approval of the American competition authorities and the two airlines hope to be able to conclude the operation by the fourth quarter of 2010.
This merger, which was notified to the Commission on 21 June, will create the world number one in the sector. United Airlines and Continental Airlines, the third and fourth largest American airlines respectively, will together have access to 370 destinations in 59 countries with a total turnover of 29 billion dollars, a fleet of 700 aircraft and around 87,000 staff across the globe. United Airlines has a network which provides national and international passenger air transport and cargo services covering more than 230 American and international destinations, nine of which are in the EEA and Switzerland. For its part, Continental Airlines provides the same services on its network, which connects 132 American destinations and 137 international ones, 26 of which are situated in the EEA and Switzerland. Both airlines are members of the Star Alliance and will work closely with Lufthansa and Air Canada within the joint venture A++.
The Commission concluded that the operation would have a limited impact within the cargo sector, given the reduced activities of the two airlines in this sector. As regards passenger transport, it concluded that the two airlines' networks are “complementary, as they have hubs in different US cities” - Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver Washington and Chicago for United Airlines, Newark, Houston, Cleveland and Guam for Continental Airlines. As a result, the planned merger would create only a marginal increase in the market shares of the parties in this latter sector, as each of the airlines sells seats on flights operated by the other or offers indirect flights in competition with non-stop flights operated by the other from its US hub.
Overall, the Commission therefore took the view that the operation is acceptable from a competition point of view, although it stresses that its assessment looked only at the potential impact of the planned merger on the market and by no means pre-judged the results of its investigation into the joint venture A++, in which both airlines are involved (see above). (F.G./transl.fl)