By Hadi Ahmad

The United States, being one of the world's largest aviation markets, is home to numerous airlines and a rich, dynamic aviation history. However, despite the size of the domestic market, the sector is largely dominated by four major players. Let’s examine why this is the case and what events led up to shaping the current affairs of American aviation.

An Oligopoly?

The United States’ domestic market can, in a way, be described as an oligopoly. This term refers to a market dominated by a small group of companies, often because multiple barriers to entry exist that are significant enough to discourage potential competitors.

Examples of such barriers to entry in the American airline industry include high airline startup costs, infrastructure constraints such as takeoff or landing slots, and the large economies of scale that various incumbents currently hold.

Four U.S. carriers combine for just over two-thirds of the domestic airline market share. As of February 2024, this amount was 68%. However, taking factors like wholly-owned regional airline subsidiaries into account, those four airlines control nearly 80% of the domestic market share. It is worth noting, though, that no single carrier’s market share reaches 20% overall.

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