The "Big 4" US airlines-American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines-account for 85% of the seats flown in the US and 88% of revenue generated by US airlines. But even post-consolidation, there are still eight more mainline US airlines-Alaska Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Virgin America, Spirit Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Allegiant Air and Sun Country Airlines-fighting for the rest of the pie. American, Delta and United are likely to increasingly fixate on feeding their international networks, where much of their growth and product investment is focused, leaving an opening for the "Smaller 8" airlines. "Our strength is serving the global marketplace and making sure we have the right feed into that," United vice chairman and chief revenue officer Jim Compton said recently.
展开▼
