PREDATORY PRACTICES AND MONOPOLIZATION IN THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY: A CASE STUDY OF MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL

Monopolization of air travel is among the most pernicious of commercial events, because the price of air transport impacts the cost of doing business in entire geographic regions. In cities like Minneapolis/St. Paul, Detroit, or Memphis, suppression of competition results in a regressive wealth transfer from consumers to producers in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Because aviation is part of the infrastructure upon which all other businesses in a community depend, excessively high air fares dampen economic activity in whole geographic regions. Airports are public resources, paid for by taxpayers. This paper argues against the predatory and monopolistic practices of some air carriers, considering them to be exploitative of consumers and antithetical to the public interest. The actions of Northwest Airlines in the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul area are cited as a case example of these anti-consumer practices.