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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Something not mentioned so far is that airlines are not a particularly profitable business. In many countries they are govt subsidized in some form, almost like a form of public transportation. Nobody wants to buy a money losing business.
In the US, the airlines have been bailed out multiple times. Some people have argued that if you look at the big picture and take into account the bailouts, the US airlines industry has never been profitable.
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