From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mergers
This article lists airline mergers and acquisitions, with a brief history of each:
Air India
Air Berlin
Air New Zealand
2000 - Acquired
Ansett Australia , Ansett collapsed, proving to be more of a drain than asset.
Air Canada
Air France
Air Jamaica
Avianca
Aurora
Austrian Airlines
Bulgaria Air
2010 - Merged with
Hemus Air kept the name Bulgaria Air
Canadian Airlines
Caribbean Airlines
Cathay Pacific
2006 - Acquired full ownership over
Dragonair (rebranded to Cathay Dragon in 2016), which continued to operate as a separate airline until 2020, when it was folded into Cathay Pacific
2020 - Acquired
Hong Kong Express
Cimber Air
Etihad Airways
2011 to 2021 - Attempted to create its own
airline alliance , Etihad Airways Partners, through acquisition of minority stakes in several airlines:
Air Berlin (29.21%, 2011) (filed bankruptcy, 2017),
Air Seychelles (40%, 2012) (divested, 2021),
Aer Lingus (2.987%, 2012),
Virgin Australia (10%, 2012),
Jat Airways (rebranded
Air Serbia ) (49%, 2013) (reduced to 18%, 2020),
Jet Airways (24%, 2013) (filed bankruptcy, 2019),
Darwin Airline (33.3%, 2013) (divested, 2017),
Alitalia (49%, 2014) (filed bankruptcy, 2017),
flyNiKi (49%, 2016) (filed bankruptcy, 2017)
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
2004 - Acquired by
Air France , which changed its company name to
Air France KLM , although the two airlines still operate as separate airlines
Loftleidir-Icelandic
LOT Polish Airlines
1929 -
Aero and
Aerolot merged to form LOT Polish Airlines
LAN Airlines
Rossiya Airlines
S7 Airlines (Siberia Airlines)
TAM Linhas Aéreas
United States
AirTran Airways
1997 - Bought by the holding company for
ValuJet Airlines , the holding company merged their ValuJet airline into AirTran thus keeping the AirTran name.
2010 - Bought by
Southwest Airlines , AirTran fleet transferred to Southwest and thereby AirTran becomes an inactive subsidiary.
Alaska Airlines
America West Airlines
American Airlines
Braniff International Airways
Continental Airlines
Delta Air Lines
1924 - Started as
Huff Daland Dusters
1928 - Huff Daland Dusters was purchased by C.E. Woolman and renamed Delta Air Service after the Mississippi Delta
1953 - Purchased the Chicago and Southern Air Lines, and flew under the name Delta C&S for the next two years until the summer of 1955.
[6]
1972 - Purchased
Northeast Airlines after Northeast was experiencing financial problems.
[7]
1984 - Established the Delta Connection (ASA, Comair, Skywest, ...)
1987 - Merged with
Western Airlines , at the time the oldest continuously operating airline in the United States.
[8]
1991 - Purchase of Pan Am's European routes, and acquired Pan Am's shuttle, forming what is today Delta Shuttle
1996 -
Delta Express began service, ended November 2003
2003 -
Song began service, ended May 2006
2010 - Merged with
Northwest Airlines , was world's largest carrier at time of merger, keeping the Delta Air Lines brand.
2017 - Bought 10% of
Air France–KLM
2017 - Bought 32% of
Aeromexico to total a stake of 49% ownership
2020 - Bought 20% of
LATAM Airlines Group
Eastern Air Lines
1956 - merges with Colonial Airlines
1967 -
Mackey Airlines merges with Eastern Airlines.
[9]
1986 - Purchased by Texas International, but continues to operate separately as Eastern Airlines
1990 -
American Airlines purchased Eastern's routes from Miami to Latin America and the Caribbean
Florida Airlines
Frontier Airlines
2007 - Entered service agreement with
Republic Airways
2008 - Declared bankruptcy, then purchased by Republic
2009 - Still under the Frontier name, Republic mandates a merger between Frontier and
Midwest Airlines
2013 - Enter a contract with Indigo, beginning a transition into an
ULCC
Hughes Airwest
JetBlue and
Spirit Airlines
2022 to 2024 - JetBlue's attempted acquisition of Spirit blocked by a federal court.
[12]
National Airlines
1979 - Merged with Pan Am
Northeast Airlines
Northwest Airlines
1916 - Founded by Col. Lewis Patenaude, under the name Northwest Airways
1927 - Began flying passengers
1949 - With its new routes to the far east, re-branded itself as Northwest Orient Airlines
1986 - Purchased Republic Airlines, and dropped the word Orient from its brand name
1993 - Began transatlantic partnership with
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines , dubbed as "
Wings Alliance ".
2008 - Merged into
Delta Air Lines . Became world's largest airline by passenger traffic in 2008 under the Delta name.
Ozark Airlines
Pan Am
1928 - Merged with Aviation Corporation of the Americas/American International Airways
1928 - Founded and formed by the merger of Atlantic, Gulf, and Caribbean Airways
1929 - Acquired majority of
Mexicana de Aviación
1950 - Merged with American Overseas Airlines
1979 - Merged with National Airlines
1985 - United Airlines purchased Pan Am's entire Pacific Division
[13]
1990 - United Airlines purchased Pan Am routes to London Heathrow Airport
1991 - United Airlines purchased Pan Am's entire Latin American Division
1991 - Delta Air Lines purchased Pan Am's European routes, and acquired Pan Am's Shuttle
1991 to present - Following 1991 bankruptcy, trademarks sold to unaffiliated companies;
Pan Am Flight Academy acquired by
All Nippon Airways in 2014
Republic Airlines (Republic Airlines 1979-1986)
Republic Airways Holdings
Southwest Airlines
Trans World Airlines
United Airlines
US Airways
Virgin America
2016 - Merged into
Alaska Airlines . The merger made Alaska a dominant U.S. carrier in the West Coast.
Western Airlines
1925 - First incorporated as Western Air Express by Harris Hanshue
1926 - Western's first flight took place
1928 - Reincorporated as Western Air Express Corp.
1930 - Purchased Standard Airlines (subsidiary of Aero Corp. of Ca. founded in 1926). WAE with Fokker aircraft merged with Transcontinental Air Transport
T-A-T to form Transcontinental & Western Air
T&WA .
1934 - Western Air Express broke off from Transcontinental & Western Air
T&WA and briefly changed its name to General Air Lines, returning to the name Western Air Express after several months
1941 - Western Air Express changed its name to Western Air Lines, which was later altered to Western Airlines
1967 - merged with Pacific Northern Airlines
1987 - Merged into
Delta Air Lines
Lufthansa
1955 - Created Deutsche Flugdienst GmbH in conjunction with other companies and subsequently owned 25.81% of it
1959 - Increased its shares in Deutsche Flugdienst to 95.5%. In 1961 Deutsche Flugdienst bought "Condor-Luftreederei“ renaming itself then "Condor Flugdienst GmbH"
1989 - Created SunExpress Airlines as a joint venture with Turkish Airlines
1995 - Transferred SunExpress shares over to Condor
1999 - Purchased 26% of Air Dolomiti
2003 - upped its stake to 51.9% (April) and then 100% (November) of Air Dolomiti
2006 - Lufthansa sold its remaining 50% stake in Condor to KarstadtQuelle AG
2007 - In conjunction with the sale of Condor, LH took back its shares of SunExpress
2005-2007 - Purchased Swiss Int'l Airlines
2008 - Purchased Austrian Airlines
2008 - Purchased BMI (Sold in 2011 to IAG (British Airways))
2008 - Acquired 45% of Brussels Airlines
2008 - Purchased 19% of Jetblue
2009 - Acquired 100% of Germanwings
2016 - Acquired remaining 55% of Brussels Airlines
2017 - Acquired
Air Berlin
2023 - Agreement to purchase 41% of
ITA Airways (successor of
Alitalia )
[14]
British Airways and
Iberia
2010 -
International Airlines Group (IAG) was formed by the merger of two airlines. Both carriers continued to operate under separate brand.
See also
References
^ Choudhury, Gaurav; Saha, Samiran.
"Air-India, Indian Airlines merger complete" . Hindustan Times . Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times. Retrieved Aug 24, 2007 .
^ Schroder, Teri (15 December 2016).
"Alaska Airlines And Virgin America Begin Process Of Merging" . thecerbatgem.com .
^
The bittersweet side of the Alaska-Hawaiian deal ,
Travel Weekly , Dec. 11, 2023
^ Hayward, Justin; Walker, Steven (2022-03-09).
"What Happened To the US Carrier Air California?" . Simple Flying . Retrieved 2024-02-25 .
^ Road, The TWA Museum at 10 Richards.
"The TWA Museum at 10 Richards Road" . The TWA Museum at 10 Richards Road . Retrieved 2024-02-25 . {{
cite web }}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link )
^
"Chicago and Southern Air Lines (C&S)" . Delta Flight Museum . Retrieved February 25, 2024 .
^
"Northeast Airlines" . Delta Flight Museum . Retrieved February 25, 2024 .
^
"Western Airlines" . Delta Flight Museum . Retrieved February 25, 2024 .
^
"Mackey International Airlines" . Sunshine Skies . Retrieved 2024-02-25 .
^
"Air South (1968-1980)" . Sunshine Skies . Retrieved 2024-02-25 .
^
"Florida Airlines" . Sunshine Skies . Retrieved 2024-02-25 .
^
US judge blocks JetBlue from acquiring Spirit Airlines ,
Reuters , Jan. 16, 2024
^ Cross, Lee (2022-04-22).
"4/22/1985: United Announces Purchase of Pan Am's Pacific Division" . Airways . Retrieved 2024-02-25 .
^
Lufthansa steigt bei ITA Airways ein und macht Rom zum Drehkreuz , AeroTELEGRAPH, May 25, 2023