Alaska Airlines closed its acquisition of Hawaiian, subject to conditions imposed by the DOT, and shared the immediate and longer-term impacts on travelers.

Nonetheless, the merger will shift the balance of the American commercial aviation industry, bringing together two of the ten largest airlines to create what now stands as the fifth largest in the United States, according to Forbes. Let's take a deeper look at what the largest impacts of this merger will be.

The airline’s chief executive, Ben Minicucci, said in an interview that closing its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines would allow it to expand, including on international routes.