A matter of hours, anticipated announcement merger

[SS255]

I think that if any of these mergers take place it is going to be awesome for US. Think about it, look how hard the US/HP merger was... And this merger happened when the economy was growing. If US focuses on bringing stability and value to their own product, they can be there to pick off the frustrated NW/DL customers. US made it post merger, as a profitable airline, with its own share of problems. US was lucky to be merging during good times. believe me, this merger is going to be expensive, and full of labor problems. US has a head start...

All I can say about the DL/NW merger is "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it!"

 

[delta777]

All I can say about the DL/NW merger is "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it!"

I agree wholeheartedly. Which is why i'm disappointed the 2 pilot groups couldn't come to an agreement prior to the official merger announcment.

If nothing else, the US Airways/America West "merger" is a good template for other interested parties of how not to go about merging 2 airlines.

 

[Black Magic]

I agree wholeheartedly. Which is why i'm disappointed the 2 pilot groups couldn't come to an agreement prior to the official merger announcment.

If nothing else, the US Airways/America West "merger" is a good template for other interested parties of how not to go about merging 2 airlines.

The problem is the pilots will never agree on anything. One group/side will always feel cheated. Delta/Northwest know this so they went ahead a pushed forward cause time was running out with the Bush administration.

 

[smoot4208]

US can lose a lot or gain a lot...depending on management. They need to fix internal problems( public relations, employee morale, and value) US will not merge with anyone because other than the midwest, they have all the needed hubs. For US to suceed, they MUST find a way to make the PHX and LAS profitable. US will not be split off(I don't know why people think airlines just split, because its never happened) US is profitable in the east, and if they upgrade their PHL, DCA, and LGA rj flights to mainline, their increased capacity will be able compete with DL/NW and UA/CO. I know that there is already to much capacity, however this seems like the best way to counter the new mergers

Jet Monkey, I'm not slamming the west, Its a given fact that WN controls a higher O & D out of PHX. With these new mergers, connecting passengers now have more options, so the only way they would take US is if we offer a lower price, which doesn't help us. As for LAS I will pull up the stats from last year, but I recall it last like 3M last year. Obviously that is minimal. but its a loss and not a profit. US will never be able to increase fares too much do to the direct WN competion on almost all routes out of PHX and LAS. Yes there is competition in the east side, but definitely less direct competition. Question: Why are we constantly adding flights at CLT and reducing flights at LAS?

 

[Elevation]

There is a silver lining here for US, but I'm not sure what it is. Wait and see I guess.

 

[john john]

I am in the industry today but I wasn't born when the industry de-regulated. Can anyone who experienced the differences firsthand give me some insight?

Piedmont had to hire all the Braniff people

 

[robbedagain]

I would have thought that at the very least the NWA and DL pilots would have wanted to avoid the messy USAIR and AWA typ merger but now it appears that wont be the case

 

[RowUnderDCA]

AA and US could team up to go after NW.

AA getting most of NW's Asia ops, leaving DTW, MSP and MEM to US, including those hubs frequencies across the pacific.

So, say..... AA gets all the beyond rights, but US gets 3 or 4 US to Japan frequencies from the U.S.

 

[sharktooth]

Delta was in bankruptcy and they were successful in repelling you;

Just a little "heads up".

US was never serious about going after DAL and likely would not have known what to do if the "deal" went together. The action was solely to force DAL to acquire debt while exiting bankruptcy and nothing more, ATA and others were very afraid of a company exiting bankruptcy debt-free, and thereby able to force fares to an untenable level for those airlines still servicing debt.

DAL repelled the attempt by acquiring debt, making the "deal" appear undoable.

 

[sharktooth]

Piedmont had to hire all the Braniff people

Wasn't Braniff post-regulation?

and, unless there was some sort of legal action, what would "force" PI to hire Braniff people?

 

[ual777fan]

AA and US could team up to go after NW.

AA getting most of NW's Asia ops, leaving DTW, MSP and MEM to US, including those hubs frequencies across the pacific.

So, say..... AA gets all the beyond rights, but US gets 3 or 4 US to Japan frequencies from the U.S.

That's possibly the most sensible proposal I've seen come out of the US/AA camp regarding a potential DL/NW and UA/CO combination. Although I think AA would keep the DTW hub since that's where the vast majority of NWA China route applications are based out of. Other than that, it might be the only way to carve NWA up to someone other than DL. Although I'm not sure that AA wants to get involved with US in any way shape or form.

 

[US1YFARE]

Continental is getting ready.....it has already added a "consolidation" link on its website.


http://www.co-industryconsolidation.com/

Could you imagine a letter from Dougie and Scott like this one to the employees?

http://www.co-industryconsolidation.com/ne...eases/index.php

 

[robbedagain]

except that dougi and kirby dont care about their own employees like continental does

 

[US1YFARE]

you are right, they don't care. Did Dougie speak to the US employees like Tilton did to UA employees:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi...0,1599615.story

 

[FutureUScapt]

That's possibly the most sensible proposal I've seen come out of the US/AA camp regarding a potential DL/NW and UA/CO combination. Although I think AA would keep the DTW hub since that's where the vast majority of NWA China route applications are based out of. Other than that, it might be the only way to carve NWA up to someone other than DL. Although I'm not sure that AA wants to get involved with US in any way shape or form.

It sounds good in theory, but the problem is that US/AA would have a tough time convincing the NW BOD that this is the better option unless they pay substantially more than what DL is offering. Furthermore, I can't think that ANY of NWs labor groups would meet said proposal with anything short of an all out war.


As for the China authorities, of which NW holds 28 (as of 2009), I believe only the recent one is bound to DTW. The other 21 are currently operated via NRT, but they have at times been operated to DTW and MSP in the past, so I don't think they are route specific.