Losers in the airline industry must fade away instead of being reincarnated with another name, TPG Capital founding partner David Bonderman said as he kicked off a lively discussion on the need for consolidation.
"In most businesses, the losers lose and go away. In the airline industry, the losers lose and come back with another name. That must stop," says Bonderman.
While Giovanni Bisignani predicted in the morning there would be only 12 global airline brands by 2050, government support for flag carriers, especially in Asia, are an obstacle, says Malaysia Airlines' chief executive Azmil Zahruddin.
"In Asia, the situation has been masked by the high growth rates. When the growth falters, we will see some casualties," says Azmil.
In the Gulf, where there is an abundance of state-owned carriers, Qatar Airways head Akbar Al Baker, believes that the weaker Gulf carriers will simply "disappear". And then, after saying that he did not want to be too controversial, he added to sniggers: "And then, there will just be two dominant carriers in the GCC. You can guess which ones."
Indian civil aviation minister Praful Patel brought a round of laughter when he responded: "And of the 12, three will be from India and three from China. I will leave my friends Akbar, James and Tim to fight it out to be some of the rest!"
Source: Flight Daily News
