Originally Posted by
Flyby1206
If I were a legacy CEO I would want to nip these mergers before they start to snowball into another big competitor. NK/F9 and AS/B6 today, then those two combine in a few years, and thats a serious threat.
Not really a threat for the Big 3. Combining smaller airlines might be good for them, but its doesn't change the total number of seats or flights. Southwest is massive compare to any of those small airlines and they aren't even really competitors to the Big 3 since they have no International footprint and they serve mostly point-to-point markets.
B6/NK was supported by AA and UA CEOs, mostly because it removed a competitor from the market. One less airline to deal with. No legacy airlines will see a "serious threat" from any merger of ULCCs.