Effective December 9, 2013, the new American Airlines becomes the largest airline in the United States.

Even after challenges from the government and consumer groups fearing reduced competition will lead to higher prices, American Airlines Group emerged from bankruptcy today, months after announcing the intention of merging American Airlines and US Airways.  Why the concern?  With the creation of this newer, larger, and hopefully stronger airline, four airlines will control over 80% of the domestic market.

This is just the latest of several airline mergers as they continue to maneuver to maintain profitability and competitiveness since the industry was deregulated decades ago.  Continental and Northwest Airlines being among the more notable airlines having disappeared in recent years.

Affect on Mainland-Hawaii Airfares should be negligible

US Airways has never served the Hawaii-Mainland routes, so this merger should have no effect on seat availability and pricing of tickets.  However, as route consolidation and the two airlines get fully integrated, it may have an impact in some markets on the mainland.  As a matter of fact, many of those in Hawaii may not be familiar with US Airways since they are strongest along the eastern seaboard.

The question now is, how smoothly they can pull of this merger.  If you recall, the merger between United and Continental Airlines back on October 1, 2011, took the better part of a year before they got their two separate systems integrated.

Hopefully, this latest merger will bring some stability to the airline industry.  Congratulations and best wishes to the new American Airlines!