Airline Choices for the Future

Airline Choices for the Future: From Alliances to Mergers offers an up-to-date assessment of the industry as it stands today, delivering a comprehensive insight into how the world of airline alliances is changing, and how the merger phenomenon is likely to fit into the new scenario. The purpose of this book is twofold. Firstly, it outlines the evolution and the reasons behind alliances between international air carriers, the alliances' track records and the way they have affected airlines and the air transport industry. Secondly, drawing on past and more recent developments in the industry, it examines the experiences airlines involved in cross-border mergers have gone through and the advantages and difficulties they have come across. Alliances and mergers are presented from both the airline and the consumer perspective. The book provides a balanced account of where mergers and alliances have taken the industry to date, bridging the gap between merger theory and implemented practices and strategies. It also identifies the challenges alliances and cross-border mergers have faced and highlights the key forces affecting airline development. Theoretical evidence is supplemented by data collected via surveys and interviews with airline executives, aviation experts, consultants and regulatory bodies.
About the Author:

Dr Kostas Iatrou works as an air transport consultant and is partner of AirConsulting Group. He holds a PhD in Air Transport Management from Cranfield University, UK. In his thesis he examined the impact of airline alliances on the partners' traffic. He has conducted seminars on alliances under the auspices of IATF of IATA. Kostas has presented his work and research on alliances, including the impact of alliances on airlines and alliance branding, at the ICAO Liberalisation Symposium and at several Air Transport Research Society (ATRS) World Conferences. His research findings have been referred to in Airline Business. His articles have featured in numerous air transport publications such as the Journal of Air Transport Management, the Journal of Air Transportation, the Annals of Air and Space Law of McGill University and Aerlines. Finally, he is the editor of the AirTransportNews.aero Mauro Oretti is Director of Alliance Development at Alitalia, which he joined in 1990 after a few years spent working in the automobile industry in Turin, Italy, his home town. During his early days with the airline he covered a number of positions in the Sales & Marketing area, working mostly abroad. In 1997 he was asked to create a new department fully dedicated to alliances. He witnessed the rise and fall of the KLM-Alitalia quasi-merger, then helped forge the carrier's new partnership strategy and its entrance into the global SkyTeam alliance, the activities of which he now coordinates within Alitalia. He lives in Rome with his wife and two children.