Even without the Open Skies issue, it seems Euro-airlines are starting to coalesce into bigger groups. Last week it was the in the UK, this week its in Germany. Spain's Iberia may be in play, depending on you read and listen to.

Air Berlin agreed to acquire 100% of LTU for €140m in cash plus the assumption of between €190 and 200m of debt. Through this acquisition, Air Berlin become the fourth largest airline for European traffic, behind Ryanair, Air France/KLM and Lufthansa.

Note the action is among airlines that are not exactly legacy carriers. Its the grow, grow, grow attitude that the likes of Lufthansa has to be watching. There are only so many people – and as noted before, Euro-populations are not growing.

Air travel seems to be fragmenting more and more. Rather than a rosy future for LCCs, there is an increasing case of hybrids developing. This idea was first put forward by Timothy O'Neil-Dunne at T2Impact.com. The Internet continues to play its part; driving consumers to shop around for the pieces they want. Not for them the one-size-fits-all. The future in the EC seems to be evolving towards a la carte options. This means the business of selling travel will grow more complicated. Perhaps this is why these vacation airline companies are merging.

Travel suppliers are going to have an ever tougher time because brands are growing less important. Ryanair has started exploiting this idea and outsources everything it can in terms of product and charges for everything it can – but what of even its brand? Now think about monolithic companies like British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa, etc. Not pretty is it? Can they handle this fragmentation without breaking their core model?

Holiday makers are going to cut and paste what they want into travel experiences that suit them. The only people driven to stick with a brand potentially is the business traveler. But even business travelers have learned of the benefits LCCs have to offer.

Even without the Open Skies issue, it seems Euro-airlines are starting to coalesce into bigger groups. Last week it was the in the UK, this week its in Germany. Spain's Iberia may be in play, depending on you read and listen to.

Air Berlin agreed to acquire 100% of LTU for €140m in cash plus the assumption of between €190 and 200m of debt. Through this acquisition, Air Berlin become the fourth largest airline for European traffic, behind Ryanair, Air France/KLM and Lufthansa.

Note the action is among airlines that are not exactly legacy carriers. Its the grow, grow, grow attitude that the likes of Lufthansa has to be watching. There are only so many people – and as noted before, Euro-populations are not growing.

Air travel seems to be fragmenting more and more. Rather than a rosy future for LCCs, there is an increasing case of hybrids developing. This idea was first put forward by Timothy O'Neil-Dunne at T2Impact.com. The Internet continues to play its part; driving consumers to shop around for the pieces they want. Not for them the one-size-fits-all. The future in the EC seems to be evolving towards a la carte options. This means the business of selling travel will grow more complicated. Perhaps this is why these vacation airline companies are merging.

Travel suppliers are going to have an ever tougher time because brands are growing less important. Ryanair has started exploiting this idea and outsources everything it can in terms of product and charges for everything it can – but what of even its brand? Now think about monolithic companies like British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa, etc. Not pretty is it? Can they handle this fragmentation without breaking their core model?

Holiday makers are going to cut and paste what they want into travel experiences that suit them. The only people driven to stick with a brand potentially is the business traveler. But even business travelers have learned of the benefits LCCs have to offer.