The latest round of consolidation started in 2005, when America West bought US Airways out of bankruptcy, taking its name. Then Delta and Northwest merged in 2008, followed by United and Continental, and Southwest and AirTran. All of those easily won the blessing of antitrust regulators the first two under President.The city is already shopping for land in the target buffer zone (see map), which includes about 27,000 acres that stretch diagonally from just south of the Shady Hollow subdivision near the Hays County line, up to near Bee Cave in the west. Based on negotiations up to this point, the city estimates it will buy outright about 10,000 acres and acquire "conservation easements," or developer rights, on another 5,000. Individual tracts are chosen for purchase based on a methodology that weighs each parcel's importance in minimizing pollution, buffering creeks and other tributaries, and contributing to a contiguous greenway.

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