[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 2367]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



        STATEMENT TO ACCOMPANY THE AIRLINE MERGER MORATORIUM ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 27, 2001

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, we are in the midst of a merger tsunami. 
Airline mergers are sweeping over us, and airline competition will be 
lost in the tide. Ten major airlines are preparing to consolidate into 
three mega airlines controlling eighty-five percent of the U.S. 
commercial air transportation services.
  A GAO report that I, along with my colleague James Oberstar (MN), 
requested made clear in December that the proposed US Airways/United 
merger would trigger further consolidation of the industry, thereby 
reducing the industry to as few as three major carriers. That 
prediction has come true faster than any of us imagined. It appears 
that the mere possibility of a United/US Airways merger has prompted 
American Airlines to buy Trans World Airlines. Now press reports 
indicate that Delta Airlines, Continental Airlines and Northwest 
Airlines are also exploring a strategic alliance.
  No one believes that these mergers are going to benefit consumers. We 
need a moratorium to determine how detrimental the impact of these 
mergers will on the flying public.
  Twenty-two years into deregulation, we have been left with fewer 
airlines, eroding passenger service, and gridlock. President Bush would 
have the opportunity during a moratorium to order a comprehensive 
review of how these mergers will adversely impact the public. Newly 
appointed U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and U.S. 
Attorney General John Ashcroft would have the necessary time to fully 
understand the problems, opportunities and constraints faced by new 
carriers.
  A moratorium would provide the Bush administration with sufficient 
time to establish a new merger policy. These are enormously complex 
mergers where the public interest must be a factor in determining 
whether to allow them to go forward.
  A moratorium would provide Congress an opportunity to request its own 
independent analysis of consolidation-related issues from the 
Transportation Research Board (TRB)--as Congress did in 1999 with 
respect to the DOT Competition Guidelines.
  Congress could seek a TRB analysis of the many merger-related 
questions that remain open including the following:
  What are the anticipated long-term impacts on air transportation 
system workers should these mergers be approved?
  Is US Airways really a failing airline? If so, why is United paying a 
huge market premium to acquire it?
  What is the best use of publicly owned takeoff and landing time slots 
at Reagan National Airport?
  What would be the national economic impacts from a labor strike among 
airline employees should these mergers consolidate the airline industry 
into three major carriers?
  Generations of American taxpayers have poured their hard-earned tax 
dollars into building our nation's aviation infrastructure. These same 
taxpayers now find themselves at the mercy of the marketing departments 
of mega-carriers who can decide with impunity which regions of the 
country will live or die based on their access to air service.
  We owe it to our constituents to take a hard look at how these 
mergers will further impact our communities.

                          ____________________