“Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) planned acquisition of AirTran Holdings (NYSE:AAI) may cause higher ticket prices as the low-fare competitor is eliminated and the merged carrier raises prices in order to offset higher costs. Earlier this week, Southwest, the world’s largest discount airline agreed to acquire AirTran in a cash and stock deal valued at .4 billion, enabling Southwest to resume traffic expansion it was forced to hault in 2008. The airline, which has become renowned for it’s strategy of entering new markets and cutting prices so much so that it’s now called the “”Southwest Effect,”" may be forced to deviate from its normal strategy for routes operated by AirTran. SmarTrend is bullish on shares of Southwest Airlines and our subscribers were alerted to buy on July 27, 2010 at .07. The stock has risen 9.2% since the alert was issued.”

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