Charlie Leocha, the manager of the consumer Travel confederation was invited by the senate Committee on Commerce, scientific field and transportation system to testify about the proposed amalgamation of Continental and United Airlines. Here is his oral statement made before the committee.

Click here for the full consumer Travel confederation written testimony.

Thank you, chairwoman John Davison Rockefeller for gift passenger a seat at this committee table and an opportunity to testify.

My name is Charles IX Leocha and I am the director of the consumer travel alliance, a not-for-profit created to keep the need of consumer in front of legislators, regulator and their staff Our confederation is a member of the consumer Federation of America

My testimony today focuses on the proposed amalgamation of United and Continental airlines.

According to tidings reports, these air hose are already forming a guidance commission and establishing team of employee to delve into the inside information of aligning.

Whoa, Nellie. As we say back in my neighborhood, it ain’t a done trade yet.

The consumer Travel confederation cannot find any public benefit from this uniting There are no new destinations and no new savings passed on to passengers. We see client service disruptions and more restrictive frequent flyer programs. Ultimately, we believe consumer will be faced with less competition and higher prices.

In addition, K of small business organisation and corporate traveller will face difficult negotiations with a mega-airline larger than any our land has seen before. The amalgamation plan acknowledges K of employee layoff when our economic system is under stress.

Our land is now faced with two form of consolidation: the traditional amalgamation of two air hose and the development of confederation antitrust unsusceptibility that allows multiple air hose to operate as one internationally.

Neither this amalgamation nor antitrust unsusceptibility are in the consumers’ interest. I don’t think that any of us in this room can point to even a single public benefit from the latest air hose mergers.

Bankruptcy for both air hose has squeezed costs and capacity out of their scheme This amalgamation will only squeeze competition out of the system.

Though continental and united already work together as confederation partners, they still compete aggressively with each other in many shipway for corporate and leisure travelers. They still compete for air hose gates, frequent fliers, suppliers, travelling agency attending and more.

The Department of justice should conclude that the proposed amalgamation is not in the public interest just as they did a years? ago, when reviewing the application from these same two carrier for airline confederation antitrust unsusceptibility

DOJ’s ground for denial included consumer harm, higher menu and riddance of competition and ultimately that it was not in the public interest; nor is this merger.

This union, however, ups the ante.

Should this amalgamation be approved, the nation’s system of network carrier will be effectively reduced to three — Delta, United and American

This trio, even without USAir, already rumored to be exploring a amalgamation with American, would control more than 70 percentage of the domestic market if associated regional air hose are included. And their confederation would control 85 percentage of International traffic.

We are creating yet another industry with companies, “too big to fail.” have we learned nothing from the past two years?

Admittedly, these two air hose have limited lapping routes, however their impact on hubs, long haul routes, connecting routes, supplier and consumer cannot be measured by lapping route alone.

The potential impact of this amalgamation should be examined through the long-term prism of the U.S.A. with only three dominant airlines. It will be a consumer nightmare.

Much has been made of the damage discipline exercised by low-cost carriers. Maybe so for point-to-point competition. But flight to smaller regional city and connecting flights, especially to International destination controlled by these carrier and their alliances, will not face any pricing force per unit area from low cost carriers. And that connecting traffic is what these hub-and-spoke air hose are all about.

In summary, this continued consolidation may be serving large air hose survive in the short run, but when the economic system improves, consumer — both leisure and business — will be left at the mercifulness of a government-approved system of airline oligopoly with less competition and, ultimately, higher airfares.

If airline consolidation is allowed to continue with uniting of house servant carrier and antitrust immunity, the consumer travelling alliance predicts this commission will find itself, within the decade, meeting to find shipway to restore competition to our airline system that is being eliminated today.

America’s airline passenger thank you for this opportunity to testify.

I look forward to any questions.