The chairman of the Senate antitrustsubcommittee said the Transportation Department was allowing
too many airline mergers and proposed its authority be
transfered to the Justice Department.
    "The Transportation Department's antitrust enforcement has
been disastrous, permitting rampant merger mania," Ohio
Democrat Howard Metzenbaum said in a statement.
    "The nine largest airlines now control 94 per cent of the
market. That's bad for competition and bad for the consumer,"
he said.
    Metzenbaum said he introduced a bill to transfer antitrust
authority over airline mergers to the Justice Department in
hopes it would more restrictive than the Transportation
Department.
 Reuter
