What are the Effects of Mergers in the U.S. Airline Industry? An Econometric Analysis on Delta-Northwest Merger

The Delta-Northwest Merger in 2008 has significantly reshaped the airline market structure and raised public concerns regarding market dominance. In this study, I will employ OLS techniques to examine the effects of merger on airfares, using more than 1,000 observations from 2008 and 2009 airline markets. Results show the belief that unbalanced market share will lead to heightened airfares misleading and unreliable. There is no significant evidence suggesting positive or negative correlations between airport dominance and airfares