United + Continental Deal's Impact on the Web [STATS]

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Stats from Hitwise Intelligence show that both United and Continental get more web traffic in areas where their hubs are located, such as Newark, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Houston. Each airline's major markets, Hitwise analysts say, is a complement to the markets of the other. There's little overlap in major hubs, so web traffic won't be compete and cannibalize as much as it will augment the business of the combined entity.

When Delta merged with Northwest, for example, traffic was all redirected to Delta.com. As a result, traffic spiked and Delta's share of the market noticeably increased.

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With the United/Continental merger, web stats show that a combined traffic share of 11.67% will give the new airline a boost in the market, displacing American as the third-largest airline brand by website traffic. Southwest grabs 20.98% of user visits to commercial airline websites, and Delta takes around 13%.

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