Author: Close the curtains.
Recently, almost all airlines** in the world have been paying attention to the news of the "merger" of the two major American airlines. Alaska Airlines wants to pay $1.9 billion to buy Hawaiian Airlines, and everyone is surprised! But speaking of which, it's not surprising.
Photo: Hawaiian Airlines A330 Photo: zhangmx969
Alaska Airlines is the "top five" in the U.S. civil aviation industry, and Hawaiian Airlines ranks 10th in the U.S. civil aviation industry. They have more than 300 and 60 commercial airliners, respectively. Flyers are most interested in Hawaiian Airlines, which has as many as 25 A330 wide-body airliners, while Alaska is all narrow-body," he saidNarrow eats wide", rare in history!
However, those familiar with the U.S. civil aviation industry will not be surprised, after all, the two are very different in size. And in terms of momentum, Alaska has been extremely strong in recent years, and Hawaii was a little powerless in previous years, and now it has just recovered its vitality with the help of the big ** after the epidemic, and mergers and acquisitions are a good time!
Photo: Alaska Airlines Photo: zhangmx969
There has never been a shortage of large-scale mergers in the U.S. civil aviation industry, from Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines in previous years, to the recent "spirit" and "frontier", there are many cases. The reason for this is nothing more than that the capitalists want better development, want to join forces to deal with the industry bosses, and collude with each other.
There are no state-owned aviation companies in the United States, all of them are privately owned. For decades, Delta, American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines have firmly dominated the top four spots, mastering more than 60% of the market and becoming the "Big Four". All the other little brothers' networks are not as developed as theirs, and the cost cannot be compared with them, and they only fight for fares and compete hard.
Photo: The "Big Four" forces in the United States are too strong Photo: Close the curtains.
In the past decade, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines, Frontier Airlines and Loyalty Airlines, under the guise of low-cost airlines, have begun to dare to compete with the "Big Four" under the guise of low-cost airlines, relying on financial support. But while snatching food from the mouths of the four majors, and on the other hand, guarding against each other's attacks, it is very tiring. So last year, the spirit and the frontier wanted to merge, which was a very correct idea.
In this situation, Alaska's acquisition of Hawaii, and even Allegiance's acquisition, is understandable. Shareholders' shares may be diluted after the merger, but it will be good for competition in the long run. Alaska Airlines has a good level of operation, and some people even think that it is better than Delta and JetBlue, and it is very likely that it will compete with the "Big Four" in the future.
Pictured: Delta's highest level is generally considered Photo: Close the curtains.
The United States is the world's largest civil aviation market, with more than 10,000 civil aircraft, but its business philosophy is fundamentally different from China's. China's civil aviation is dominated by state-owned enterprises, and develops in tandem with local state-owned assets and large-scale private assets. In the United States, the civil aviation industry does not have any shadow of state-owned assets, and all belong to the competition between private bosses.
If the Chinese experience is copied, Hawaiian Airlines should belong to the state of Hawaii and be invested by the government. After the money is earned, it should be handed over to the national treasury and used to develop the local economy. If Alaska were to make a takeover, it would have little chance of success. Because the national airline is not short of money, the local government will provide timely support when it encounters difficulties.
Photo: Chinese airlines are dominated by state-owned assets Photo: Draw the curtains.
As a result, there are far more airlines in China than in the United States. There are only a dozen trunk line companies in the United States, while China now has more than 40 passenger transport companies alone, Shenzhen, Sichuan, Xiamen, Hebei, Shanghai, Hunan, Jiangxi and even Qingdao and Guilin have their own airlines, not including Chang'an, Ruili, Xingfu, Okay and Changlong.
Airlines are transportation services, and it is generally believed that mature enterprises should have a well-developed network and a deep service spirit. On the question of how many airlines the United States needs, some people believe that the current ten is too many, and it is possible that the merger will continue, and eventually only three or five will be left for mainline passenger transportation. Because the competition is too fierce, small companies will be eaten by large companies if they are not careful.
Photo: Localities like to run airlines Photo: Close the curtains.
But it doesn't seem like that's going to happen in China. Considering that Guilin Airlines may withdraw from the HNA Group and become a valuable asset to the people of Guilin, the number of actual airlines in China is still growing. With strong local financial support, these companies do not have to worry about competition and can develop with confidence.
So if the U.S. airline industry is a consolidation trend, the number of airlines is getting smaller and smaller; The trend of Chinese airlines is fission, and the increasing number of them shows that the business philosophy of the two has become more and more different. Both have their own characteristics and may lead to different successes.