There are global players in many industries and to get to be global often they acquire large national companies in countries to expand to those markets.
Why is it with Airlines that there are no global companies owning airlines across multiple nations?
Virgin is the closest I can think of and even they do not actually own the airlines, just the name in some places (Australia).
My only thought is that airlines are not exactly huge profit centres?
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The short answer is that it’s illegal.
Back in the 1940s, a lot of countries were worried that airlines from the United States would dominate their nascent aviation industries, so they got together (with the U.S.) to negotiate a treaty setting out what foreign airlines could do in their counties and their airspace. These are called the freedoms of the air and they’re overseen by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Let’s say we have three countries: country A, B and C.
The treaty (which has been updated a few times and has now been signed by pretty much every country in the world) allows airlines from country A to fly over country B while heading to country C. An airline from country A can bring people to country B from country A, and pick people up from country B to take them back to it’s home country, country A.
But very few countries let airlines from another country pick people up in their country to take them to a third country, so an airline from country A can’t fly between country B and country C.
Some countries have allowed exceptions to this over the years, and the EU allows airlines from other EU countries to fly anywhere in the EU, but basically there’s no way for an airline to fly a route that doesn’t involve going to its home country.
It’s why many airlines fly intercontinental routes that involve going to their home country. So when I flew KLM from Canada to Johannesburg, I had to change planes in the Netherlands. When I flew China Southern to Cambodia, I had to change planes in China.
The other factor is that many countries limit foreign ownership of airlines headquartered in their country, effectively limiting the ability of the owners of an airline to get around these rules by operating multiple airlines in different countries.
While some people have pointed out that there are global airline alliances, the airlines in these alliances are independent companies, with different owners, that just have agreements to work together. Airlines can leave the alliances if they want, and sometimes switch alliances, so it’s not the same as a global company that owns airlines in multiple countries.
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