U.S. Merger Not Expected to Impact Air Canada Or Westjet
May 6, 2010 | Airline Flight, Airline Service, Airlines Companies, Airlines News, Aviation, United Airlines
The proposed merger between United and Continental airlines is unlikely to have any impact on Canada’s two dominant carriers, industry observers said Monday.
Since both U.S. airlines are members in the Star Alliance along with Air Canada, the union creating the world’s largest airline shouldn’t have any material operational impact on the Canadian carrier, said Cameron Doerksen of Versant Partners.
The U.S. carriers says there isn’t much overlap in their networks.
So there shouldn’t be any significant impact on Air Canada’s schedule since the partner are already co-ordinating their activities.
Doerksen also doesn’t see how the merger would affect Calgary-based WestJet in any way.
Air Canada said Monday that it would be premature to comment on the merger since it still requires various approvals.
WestJet said none of its plans is altered by the merger.
But Hugh Dunleavy, vice-president strategy and planning, said the airline will monitor the consolidation and update its business plans if any opportunities arise.
