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There's been yet another merger in the airline industry.
航空业又出现了一起兼并重组的案例。
The Delta, the sixth largest carrier in the United States, will join wings with Western, which ranks ninth.
美国第六大航空公司达美航空将与排名第九的西部航空兼并。
By one standard, that will create the nation's third largest airline.
双方兼并后，将排名第三。
The merger, agreed to by Western yesterday, makes sense, according to Con Hitchcock of the Aviation Consumer Action Project.
航空消费者行动项目的康·希契科克表示，昨天经由西部航空同意的这次兼并也是意料之中的。
The reason that the merger makes sense for a company like Delta is that Delta's based primarily in eastern United States,
从达美航空的角度来说，其总部在美国东部，在亚特兰大有一个港口，
with a hub in Atlanta and some in Cincinnati and Dallas and Fort Worth.
此外在辛辛那提、达拉斯、沃思堡市也有一些港口。
But it doesn't really have a western presence.
但在美国西部，达美航空是没有市场占有率的。
Western is based in Salt Lake City and has also got a lot of presence in Los Angeles.
西部航空总部在盐湖城，在洛杉矶也有很大的影响力。
And if you can merge the two together successfully, there's the chance you'll have a successful large carrier
如果能成功地合二为一，那么就有机会锻造成功的大型航空公司，
that can compete with United and American and other companies that are bigger than Delta.
可以与比达美航空大的公司媲美，比如联合航空、美国航空。
What about the urge to merge? We've had an incredibly large number of mergers just in the last six months or so.
从客观的角度来讲有什么促成因素呢？过去半年来，我们进行了多次兼并重组。
There's a feeling in some sectors of the airline industry that if you want to be a survivor, if you want to be around, you have to get bigger.
航空业已经有一种风气存在了，即如果想继续留在市场进行竞争，就要扩大公司规模。
You have to get into a number of markets, and the easy way to do that is to buy off your competitors rather than try to expand from within.
要打入诸多市场，有一个简单的办法，即吞并竞争对手，而非从内部扩张。
And in some senses, it is easier to go out and raise the money rather than do things like try to get into the congested airports.
有的时候，在公司外部募集资金要比挤破脑袋与其他航空公司竞争容易的多。
You've got airports like Chicago and Denver and Los Angeles that are fairly crowded,
芝加哥、丹佛、洛杉矶等地的机场已经十分拥堵了，
that it's just difficult to go in a big way and establish yourself and attract a lot of customers.
要想大张旗鼓地成立一家新公司并吸引顾客眼球是非常难的。
And it's easier to go out and buy a company with an established market position than try to work your way up from ground zero.
更简单的办法是：并购一家别的公司，这家公司已经有了稳固的市场地位，这样的起点更高。
What about a time factor? Is there any reason we're seeing all these merges now?
那航空业的这种现象与时间有关吗？我们看到的兼并重组现象是否与其他原因有关呢？
Deregulation's been with us since 1978. Why now?
自1978年以来，就有了解除管制的现象，那现在为什么不可以呢？
I think there are a couple of reasons why there are so many airline merges now.
我个人认为，有几个原因可以解释如今航空业兼并重组司空见惯的现象。
First of all, there's sort of a herd mentality.
首先，大家都有从众心理。
When United picked up Pan Am's Pacific routes earlier this year, that set off a ripple effect.
联合航空今年年初并购泛美航空在太平洋的航线一事，确实引起了不小的波澜。
Northwest said, Well, we're going to buy Republic in order to het bigger and compete, TWA, Ozark, etc. etc.
西北航空表示，我们也打算并购共和航空，这样既可以壮大公司，也可以提高竞争力。此外，环球航空和欧扎克航空也在我们的考虑范围内。
There really is a wave.
确实是有涟漪效应。
Secondly, there's the perception in the industry that the Department of Transportation which has to approve airline mergers,
其二，航空业普遍有一种认知，即交通部是必须要通过航空公司兼并的申请的，
is more lenient than the Justice Department would be.
这与更为严格的司法部不同。
But D.O.T. only has that authority for another two years.
但两年后，审批权就不在交通部手里了。
And there's concern that if you don't do it now, the Justice Department may stop you if you try a couple years from now.
而且有人会担心，认为如果现在不做，那么司法部几年后就不让做了。
The third reason is related to the tax bill.
其三是与税法法案有关。
The tax bill that's pending in Congress will take away some of the benefits that make mergers easy to finance, staring on January lst.
从1月1日开始，国会现在尚未通过的税法法案会带来一些福利，降低兼并的难度。
So I think you're going to see a number of mergers in a lot of other industries as well between now and December 31st.
所以我觉得，今年还会有很多兼并发生。
When deregulation came into being, there was a lot of talk that what would happen is, you would have four or five major airlines,
刚有解除管制的时候，大家对可能发生的情况做了很多讨论：以后可能会只有四五家大型航空公司，
a number of very successful regional airlines and the commuters.
此外还有很多成功的地区航空公司和通勤方式。
It seems as though that trend is here. We seem to be headed in that direction, and it's unfortunate.
基本上这就是大体的趋势了，我们被推着往这个方向走，这很不幸。
I mean, deregulation was supposed to be more airlines competing for consumers' business, not fewer. There is inevitably...
我是说，解除管制本应该是呈现出更多航空公司竞争的局面，而不是更少。不可避免的……
Well, there are more. here are more, but the big ones are getting bigger.
公司是越来越多了，但强者却愈强。
And there are some advantages in the sense that you can travel from one city to another on a single airline
不过，从某种方面来讲也有优势，
without having to change lines and that sort of thing.
比如从一个城市去另一个城市可以不换航线了。
But the drawback is the industry shrinks, is that you have fewer mavericks,
但劣势就是航空业逐渐缩水，有拼搏力的新秀公司越来越少，
or fewer airlines that might say, 'Gee, let's start a price war to raise some more traffic.'
就不会见到有航空公司有发动价格战以多分一杯羹的情况了。
It can get very comfortable very quickly, and I'm not sure that's in the Consumer's interest in the long term.
我倒是可以很快的适应，但我不确定消费者的长期利益是否能得到保证。
Thanks very much. Con Hitchcock of the Aviation Consumer Action Project.
非常感谢，以上观点来自航空消费者行动项目康·希契科克。
