The Next Big Airline Merger?

Hello and Welcome In the past fortnight, we witnessed KoreanAir announce plans to takeover Asiana Airlines in the coming years permitting final approval and 0 the papers being signed. However, it may not be the last we see of these types of mergers with carriers around the world given the current climate and overall conditions that have impacted the Aviation Industry. A new article by Bloomberg’s Japan site which can be found below in the sources area has dived deeper into what an expert who previously worked with the Prime Minister in the Growth Strategy Council believes should take place and it’s quite interesting. He believes that ANA and JAL should become one, this comes after both airlines are currently like most carriers in dire need of additional cash to sustain their operations, aircraft, network, and employees during this global pandemic. 

In fact, his ideas continue as he believes there's a way that the ANA and Japan Airlines brand can be brought together as one and still work and that's in the form of splitting the domestic and international scene in half. While the airline would act say as one, the international operations would be separate from the domestic operations almost acting as if there were two separate carriers, a low-cost domestic one potentially and then a full-service intentional carrier. The difference though is that they are flying as one. ANA and Japan Airlines coming together as one I must reiterate has not been confirmed, in fact, it’s only a mere suggestion at this point and therefore it’s not set in stone. Ultimately though further consolidation of areas is likely given the current state of the Aviation Industry. 

It provides ways for carriers to survive through this pandemic even if it means the collapse of one specific airline naming. As for this, who knows whether it’d be JALor ANA that’d lose its branding. It could quite literally be either if they were to go ahead with the advice given. So are there benefits to this? Yes and no. However, ultimately the negatives outweigh the positives. The current global pandemic we are going through will not be here in a decade, hopefully, but a change as big as the merging of two big carriers like that of ANA and also Japan Airlines will still be. So while travel demand will return completely to normal Japan has lost one of its valuable assets to the tourism industry as the two formed during a crisis that will not be with us forever. Complacency is another thing that needs to be considered should this merger ever actually eventuate. One of the many benefits of having a competitor, whether that's Airbus and Boeing going up against it or two carriers battling it out in the same country is that it pushes the pair or maybe more to better themselves with every passing month. They continue to look at ways to advance in the future whether that be with their pricing model or something as simple as various cabin changes! What are your thoughts on the discussion over a potential merger though? Feel free to let me know down below in the comments as always thank you very much for the continued support