10 November 2008

LCC triumvirate to rule North America

Reprinted from our INtheKNO Blog

Southwest Airlines and Volaris the upstart Mexican airline have today announced their long awaited tie up.

Southwest previously announced a northern alliance with Westjet.

So let's speculate at the moment that this in turn shields each other's market and creates a Non-GDS based alliance of almost biblical proportions.

The 3 airlines represent the pinnacle of the North American version of the LCC model. Each is very strong in their own right and all 3 will create a partnership that could knock the pants off any player or even combination of players north of the Panama Canal.

This will put a crimp in the style of JetBlue's southward expansion and also start a rush to further non-GDS based alliances.

I would take issue with the "seamless" integration statement in their PR release. That is a little over the top.

And yes that crumbling sound you hear in the background IS the sound of the GDS model falling.

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