A U.K.-based travel company, Airtours (now MyTravel), sought to purchase a travel agency known as First Choice. It announced its planned merger to EC authorities in early 1999. Later that year, the Merger Task Force blocked the proposed merger, asserting that such a proposed combination of travel powerhouses would necessarily create a "collective dominant" position in the U.K. market for so-called short-haul travel vacations. The Merger Task Force asserted that this would lead to higher prices for consumers as well as the elimination of smaller, less visible agencies. Airtours appealed to the Court of First Instance.
1. Does the order prevent Airtours from entering into mergers in the future with companies that have a smaller share of the U.K. market?
2. If Airtours proposed a merger with another firm with a very large share of the German market but no share of the U.K. market, how would the merger be treated based on this opinion?
3. What "product" is Airtours selling? Would this decision prevent a merger with a party in the travel business that sold a "different" product?