How the Once-Mighty Merge...

Delta and Northwest, now United and Continental. This is like the telcom business, where the once-monopoly AT&T was broken up and competition entered and a quarter century later the monoply has become a duopoly- AT&T and Verizon.

Perhaps American and USAir will merge, reducing the big carrier list to three.

United, Continental boards OK merger: sources - Yahoo! News: "CHICAGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – UAL Corp (UAUA.O), parent of United Airlines, will buy Continental Airlines Inc (CAL.N) for $3.2 billion, forming the world's largest carrier in a merger that further shrinks the embattled U.S. airline industry and could drive up air fares, sources said on Sunday.
The boards of directors of both companies unanimously approved the deal, which was expected to be announced by the carriers on Monday morning, sources familiar with the discussions said. UAL and Continental declined to comment and neither airline has confirmed the votes."