vertical integration and charter carriers

I think vertical integration was a bad thing in the industry. Yes its not a new thing, BY always served Thomson, KG used to serve Horizon, MON used to serve Cosmos. The thing is they still served other tour ops as well. The airlines didnt have the name of the tour op emblazened across the aircraft as is the case now with Thomson and First Choice. Surely other smaller tour ops are now going to be a little reluctant to take seats on an airline with a competitors name on the outside?

Vetical Integration spelt the end of independant charter carriers such as DanAir, Excalibur and the like who found it increasingly difficult to find customers once the tour ops had their own in-house carriers!