Megacarrier

It was only because of concerns about how to maintain viability as a regional airline in a megacarrier environment that both Western's management and its employees responded positively to overtures by Delta, resulting in Western becoming a significant part of Delta's entry into the megacarrier class.

But, actually, three virtual megacarriers have emerged – the Star, Skyteam, and Star Alliances.

The three tiers include: regional/feeder carrier, new-entrant/low-cost/no-frills carrier, and the “megacarrier.

Twenty-one Sheltok megacarriers vanished without a trace, and others had close calls.

The ship's company for each megacarrier topped 25,000 men, not counting the pilots and air crews for the aircraft on board.

The studied period goes across different dominant ship technologies, such as sail, steam, combustion, specialized vessels (e.g. container, tanker), and megacarriers.

According to Metz, megacarriers will evolve gradually, first with common ownership of several individual companies, followed by integrated marketing among subsidiaries, integration of operations will occur very slowly and cautiously.

The multimodal, transcontinental megacarriers of the future will probably coalesce around the capital assets represented by today's major railroad rights-of-way.