Europe Market Outlook: Slow And Steady Wins The Race? The Ongoing And Gradual Restructure Of The European Airline Market

Although Europe has experienced some notable waves of merger and acquisition activity in the last 14 years – such as the Air France/KLM and BA/Iberia mergers and various Lufthansa Group acquisitions – the region remains one of the most highly fragmented airline markets globally. There are more airline groups operating in Europe than in any other region in the world and their profitability is lower compared with, for example, the tightly controlled North American market. Any consolidation to date hasn’t led to any meaningful change in the structure of the European airline market, nor has the disappearance of several airlines led to greater market concentration. Clearly, consolidation has been slow and steady, but the region’s top groups wield the power and capital to significantly speed up the process. Is this on the horizon or will consolidation activity continue to amble along at its current pace?