[nl]

Sure? If the Chinese government (or more realistically Qatar or UAE etc) wants to subsidize US business and tourism by making it cheaper to fly within the US it seems like a good thing for the US.

As we've seen, anytime an airline raises prices it is pretty easy for another carrier (or even a brand new carrier) to come in and replace them. So it isn't like a hypothetical foreign government owned carrier could somehow make long term sustained profits.

Let them spend their money on that if they are that dumb!

[JumpCrisscross]

We don’t want to be in a situation where Beijing can turn off American flights because someone said mean things about Xi.

[nl]

If there was a monopoly situation (which of course is a big "if") then it's reasonable to have laws requiring specific levels of service from the airline. It's fairly easy to write those laws to force the airline to fly.

If the Chinese state intervenes in US domestic travel affairs then the US has the option to nationalize their fleet. All their assets and operational staff are in the US and the staff aren't going to oppose keeping their jobs...

[int_19h]

Unless they are the only option - which should be a matter for the antitrust regulators - it's not really a threat, just an inconvenience.

[zoky]

I guess I just don’t get it then. What’s wrong with the following scenario:

1) China comes in and undercuts US prices.

2) US carriers are unable to compete with a business subsidized by one of the largest economies in the world, and China Air forms a monopoly as it drives competitors out of business.

3) China Air folds, leaving the US with no means of air travel at all.

I’m pretty sure China could outlast any airline in the US in a price war, given how thin the margins that US carriers already operate on are. They don’t have to care about making profits—their only goal is to damage the US economy, as on the world stage it’s a zero-sum game. Any damage to the US is a benefit to China.

So yeah, let them. And what effect do you think it will have on the economy when there are literally zero air carriers left in the United States?

[nl]

Firstly, the US has a bunch of existing laws to deal with monopolies already. Use them.

And if China Air suddenly folds then the US nationalizes their fleet or some similar intervention. Similar has been done during crises in the banking sector, and similar has been done in other countries when an airline went bust.

[midoridensha]

>Firstly, the US has a bunch of existing laws to deal with monopolies already. Use them.

That seems to be impossible these days.

[nl]

I think you are probably mostly familiar with high profile cases in the tech space. Outside that the DoJ has a pretty strong record of success in antitrust cases.

Recent examples include:

* A case involving wage suppression by a secret agreement of poultry procesors in Georgia (May 2023)

* A divestment agreement for ASSA ABLOY AB to take over Spectrum Brand Holding Inc.’s Hardware and Home Improvement division

* An antitrust lawsuit against Activision for esport wage surpression.

See https://www.justice.gov/news/press-releases?f%5B0%5D=facet_t... if you want more

I suspect antitrust action against a Chinese-owned entity that had shutdown travel in the US would be fairly broadly supported.

[midoridensha]

Very informative. I guess I'm still bitter about what happened with the Microsoft antitrust case in 2001.