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?
In: 201
International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) own airlines in the UK, Ireland and Spain.
Air France-KLM own airlines in France and the Netherlands as well as a multitude of shareholdings in smaller airlines in other countries (and even Dutch high speed railways).
Lufthansa Group own airlines across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium (and shortly the Italian flag carrier).
Most of these mergers came about because of the open skies agreements that the EU practices, which is also what allowed EasyJet to flourish as a pan European airline from its UK base (though it and IAG have had to alter their structures slightly to account for the UK being outside the EU these days).
But because outside those markets, national governments tend to be very protective of their airlines, it has been easier for alliances to form, which allow the airlines to operate as one without the complications of ownership rules. Even before organisations like Oneworld existed, airlines like British Airways and American Airlines already operated very deeply allied networks and had linked ticketing systems.
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