The issue at hand was airline mergers and acquisitions, and Mr. Reid earnestly testified that he had been boning up on his constitutional law and had reread International Shoe v. State of Washington.
Mr. Strickland and others noted that, for at least one airline, expansion through acquisition ended in tears.
The airline continued the acquisition of Western, rather than Soviet aircraft, despite the links between the communist government and the Soviet Union, purchasing the Boeing 727 in 1979 and the Boeing 767 in 1984.
The airline -- whose proposed acquisition by UAL, the parent of United Airlines, is being reviewed by government regulators -- derived 12.3percentt of its revenue from online sales in the third quarter.
The Senate Commerce Committee passed a resolution today opposing the $11.6 billion plan by the UAL Corporation to buy the US Airways Group because of concern that it could prompt more acquisitions among airlines.
Furthermore, past airline mergers including FedEx's acquisition of the Flying Tigers would probably not have happened without a merged seniority list for pilots.
"There have been various cross-border acquisitions in the airline industry over time, but nothing like this," Craig Jenks, an independent airline consultant in New York, said of Etihad's strategy.
Lufthansa argues that the number of its pilots in Germany has increased by 20 percent since 2001, owing to the expansion of its network through acquisitions and new airline partnerships.
In the next few years the airline performed many mergers and acquisitions that produced changes in the name and saw business expand throughout Alaska.
Air China, based in Beijing, will raise its stake in Cathay, Hong Kong's largest airline, to 17.5percentthroughgh the acquisition.
