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15 Touro Int'l L. Rev. 1 (2012)

handle is hein.journals/touint15 and id is 1 raw text is: ANTITRUST IN THE SKIES: THE UNITED AND OLYMPIC AIRLINE MERGERS Justin Dickerson* This is a true merger of equals, bringing together two strong companies and positioning us to succeed in a dynamic and highly competitive global aviation industry. This sets us on a path to create the world's leading airline ..... I. Introduction Every year, top airline managers gather for the annual conference of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade organization with members from 243 international airlines.2 Having lost a combined $42 billion and amassed $200 billion in debt over the past decade,3 the conversations between airline executives over cocktails at this event have likely grown increasingly grim. Even despite airlines' recent strategy of combating losses through a myriad of newly-created fees for formerly-free services (like baggage and inflight meals), it remains difficult for airlines to stay in the black.4 At the 2007 IATA conference in Vancouver, director general Giovanni Bisignani discussed what he perceived as the four greatest challenges facing the airline industry today: security, infrastructure costs, open skies, and the environment.5 Essentially, Bisignani pointed out what everyone in the room already knew: (1) in the post 9/11 * J.D. Candidate, May 2012, Loyola Law School Los Angeles; B.S. Foreign Service, May 2006, Georgetown University. I wish to thank Professor Joseph Goodman of Loyola Law School and Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP for his wonderful Global Antitrust Law & Policy course and guidance on this Article. Warm thanks as well to Nicholas Soltman of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, Sophie Sahlin of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, and David Schechter of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP for their advice, encouragement, and friendship. I Press Release, Glenn Tilton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of United Airlines, United Continental Holdings, United and Continental Close Merger (Oct. 1, 2010) available at http://ir.unitedcontinentalholdings.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=83680&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1478014&highlight= (last visited Feb. 05, 2012). 2 David Grossman, An Airline Industry Wish List, USA TODAY, June 12, 2007, available at http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/grossman/2007-06- 11 -airline-challengesN.htm (last visited Feb. 05, 2012). 3 id. 4 See Airline Cuts Loss, Beats Forecasts, LOS ANGELES TIMES, Jan. 20, 2011, at B6. Through these fees, American Airlines grew their other revenue category by 2.9 percent, raising $599 million in the fourth quarter of 2010 alone. Id. See also Katie Johnston Chase, Airlines Get More Creative with Fees, BOSTON GLOBE, Mar. 25, 2011, available at http://articles.boston.con2011-03-25/business/29352568_1_beleaguered-airlines-henry-harteveldt-rick-seaney (last visited Feb. 05, 2012). Grossman, supra note 2. 1

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