Delta merger could mean lower fares

Most of the opinions expressed here since US Airways announced its intention to buy and

merge with Delta

have been

of the negative variety

. Certainly, those predictions have merit. But as the

Washington Post

points out

, there's the potential for a huge (and unintended) upside as well.

"A potential merger between US Airways and Delta Air Lines would force the combined airline to shed some overlapping services," writes the

Post

's Kyle Peterson, "but the sale of assets could open the door to low-cost competitors and spark a new fare war."

How so? Imagine low-cost trendsetters like JetBlue and Southwest moving to

fill the vacuum

created by the routes and airport gates shed by the Delta/US Airways behemoth. Suddenly we're looking at the potential for massive East Coast expansion by airlines with a proven track record for bringing down fares on the routes they operate.

Now whether or not it would actually play out like that is a matter open to debate. The possibility, though, is an appealing one—and not so far-fetched, either.