Hubert Horan
Hubert Horan is an independent airline consultant with over 25 years of aviation experience, who has held both consulting and airline management positions. His primary focus has been strategic, financial and network planning and has been directly involved with multiple waves of airline mergers and industry restructuring. During his career, Hubert has worked on many of the most critical issues in the field of transportation economics, including the impact of regulation and mergers on industry efficiency, and the impacts of consolidation and other industry structural changes on consumer welfare. He was directly involved with all of the major changes aviation has seen including US deregulation, European liberalization, domestic and cross-border mergers, low-cost carrier development and bankruptcy restructuring. In addition to extensive consulting work, he held airline management positions with Northwest, America West, Swissair and Sabena. Recently, Hubert emerged as one of the leading experts on the economics of Uber, and the impacts of the major structural shifts in the taxicab industry on efficiency and overall consumer welfare.
UBER
His Uber analysis through mid-2017 was incorporated into his Transportation Law Journal article “Will the Growth of Uber Increase Economic Welfare?”.
Horan’s strong knowledge of the economics of transport competition and regulation allowed him to demonstrate that Uber is incapable--now or in the future--of earning sustainable profits under competitive market conditions.
He also cited that Uber is significantly less efficient than the traditional taxi operators it has been driving out of business, and that all of Uber's growth to date depended on unsustainable multi-billion-dollar subsidies.
EARLY CAREER
He is a leading expert on international airline alliances, having developed the original Northwest-KLM alliance that served as the template for all subsequent global joint ventures.
His early career focused on railroads and urban transport, and then refocused on aviation in the early 1980s.
APPEARANCES & PUBLICATIONS
Horan has published a range of articles on airline competition, the evolution of airline business models, political issues, mergers and industry consolidation.
He has testified on merger and competitive issues before the United States Congress and the Department of Transportation.
He has been frequently quoted in newspaper, television and industry trade journal pieces on aviation, and has led multiple graduate school seminars on airline competition.