Less than a dozen airlines compete in the domestic market.
To be sure, airlines have long competed on service.
The big airlines compete for passengers by offering better deals on cut-rate advance purchases.
The Shinkansen system and airlines often compete with each other for the business of city-to-city domestic travelers.
As such, airlines would compete with airport restaurants.
Domestic airlines cannot compete against foreign carriers with one hand tied behind their backs.
Northwest said it had matched Continental fares on routes where both airlines compete.
The major airlines competed really by adding benefits over the years.
In the front of the plane, by contrast, airlines are competing to offer more seat room to passengers willing to pay for it.
But there is no reason to think that airlines based in Europe could not compete in this expanded transatlantic market.