Travel industry and consumer groups across Europe have warned against increased consolidation of the European aviation industry, stating proposed airline mergers could limit market competition and lead to higher air fares.
In a joint statement released on Wednesday (31 January) ACI Europe, EU Travel Tech, ECIAA (European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Association), BEUC (European Consumer Organisation) and the European Passengers’ Federation called on the European Commission to “carefully and critically review the ongoing European airline merger wave” and to safeguard healthy airline competition in the region.
The statement follows the Lufthansa Group’s efforts to acquire ITA Airways and IAG’s recently revived bid to purchase Spanish carrier Air Europa.
The groups warned that further airline consolidation could “drastically limit competition on thousands of connections, thus giving more leeway to market dominant players to develop and abuse their positions, at the expense of European travellers”.
Lufthansa's planned acquisition of ITA Airways has already raised competition concerns, with the Commission last month launching an investigation into the proposal.
The groups also urged the Commission not to fall victim to political pressure and “not shy away from using the tools at its disposal” to prevent any potential anti-competitive effect.
“The current consolidation wave is a worrying trend for all those interested in strong airline competition, connectivity, and quality of service. Experience from markets like the US show the detrimental impacts of endless airline consolidation, leading to dissatisfaction across the board,” said Emmanuel Mounier, secretary general of EU Travel Tech.
“The past years have also clearly shown that dominant transport operators do not only further entrench their strong market positions, but routinely abuse them, notably by discriminating against intermediaries, to the detriment of passengers and competitors,” he added.
“The European Commission must fully play its crucial role as the guardian of competitive European markets,” Mounier said.