That's the sad fact of which operation is the profitable one. Even with the combination of just east and west, it became obvious early on that PHX was a loser. Now, with legacy AA in the mix, PHX is little more than a joke.
Had Parker not been desperate to get this AA merger done, he never would have given any assurances to Arizona politicians and Washington wonks that PHX would stay open.
Yes, indeed, "separate ops does not mean the East gets everything and the West gets screwed." It does mean that the company will deploy assets where they make money, and shut down the unprofitable pieces of the operations. How's that A330 Phoenix-London route working out for you guys? Almost every Crew News you idiots brought it up, and Parker or Kirby had to explain for the umpteeth time all the reasons that the route would not be profitable. Economically and geographically, Phoenix is, at best, a third-rate city for airline operations. Get over it.