Airline execs discuss mergers, innovation

[Dog Wonder]

The girls all get prettier at closing time.

 

[767one]

good article... but I think it further highlights that US wants to be in the driver's seat with regard to the next round of mergers and acqusitions and this conference appeared to be part of reaching that end... or at least the focus was on US and its future.
.
not sure what Wi-Fi actually costs but it can't be a terribly expensive upgrade... I agree that the net result if everyone adds it is not necessarly revenue positive but the reality is that the onboard product has changed... in-flight video wasn't part of the product even if projected onto a screen during the first couple decades of transoceanic jet travel and it is the norm to have inseat AVOD. The product evolves and you can't just ignore those changes... but passing the costs and benefits to a service provider is a reasonable question to explore.

It really does not matter how little something costs because if it costs anything at all it won't happen here. For instance we have airplanes flying to Rio and across the North Atlantic relying on a radio from the 1920's technology for communications. HF radio is the equivalent of two cans and a really long string which is inexcusable when satphones are available. Not to mention that some of these aircraft are flying over the North Atlantic in the middle of the night with only 2 cockpit crewmembers because regulations only require 2.

Regards,

Bob

 

[Harry Callahan]

Bob:
As usual you hit the nail on the head.

 

[signals]

Airline execs discuss mergers, innovation

US Airways' Kirby said that his carrier could not merge with airlines that have a smaller market share, such as JetBlue Airways or Alaska Air

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Actually, Kirby's USeless Airways can't merge with anybody, because NO airline wants to 'merge' with the White Flag airline that hasn't got their last merger right!

 

[signals]

i don't see why any airline would care that our labor contracts aren't settled ...

if anything i would think they would see frozen contracts as a plus ....

Spoken like a true useless and clueless sandflea that sees no problem with your dilipidated, kettle carrying, white flag waving, flying trash can airline! If you add blue and red to your logo, you would have a French flag...I Surrender

 

[signals]

All depends on perspective. US admits it's saving a lot of $ by having two employee work groups working on contracts negotiated during the bankruptcy days. From Wall Street's perspective, the merger is done.

Plus, if US merges with a bigger company (and all the possibilities are about twice the size, if not more, of US), the combined work force would likely make the existing US unions moot after a representation vote, and I would think there are benefits in a merger of not having signed contracts with the existing US employees. I'm not convinced the endless delays on the negotiations front is not part of a larger plan.

US is actually making a killing on the pilot dispute. The would-be raises are sitting in a bank earning a lot of interest. 4000+ pilots, no raises, X interest=Company profitability. So put that in your pipe and smoke it B)

 

[signals]

If nothing else, the number of potential partners is shrinking.

- FL is about to be bought by WN.

- B6 has interline agreements with 9 carriers now, all but AA and Cape Air are European carriers (Aer Lingus included), with 3 already capable of booking on B6's or the other carrier's site. The others will be added to the reciprocal booking deal over the next year or so.

- AS hasn't made any attempt to hide it's desire to remain unmerged.

- AA has enough troubles of it's own to add the problems of a merger

- Frontier (or Republic Holding) isn't doing well financially competing with UA and WN - for example, they get significantly less yield than UA or US in the DEN-PHX market.

- HA hasn't indicated any interest and WN is making noises about serving the mainland-Hawaii market possibly resulting in a drop in fares. Plus, as a doorway to the Far East, HA doesn't make sense for a mainland carrier since it adds a connection (time) and is out of the direct line from the mainlind U.S. and the Far East (adding time and cost).

Jim

WN is still the one to watch. They seem to know what they are after. No surprise that Republic and F9 are now on the LUV menu after the merger fiasco where a BK judge gave the F9 buyout to Republic rather than the out-bidder, Southwest! Me thinks WN will emerge the true winner in your crazy airline scenarios!

 

[signals]

Keep hikin' yer skirt girl......put that lipstick on. maybe just maybe someone will drive by and wanna pick you up.

Yeah, a blind drunk

 

[SparrowHawk]

Thing i found amusing was US Airways, Scott Kirby and the word innovation in the same article.

When someone say "US Airways", let's be candid, Innovation is not the first word that comes to mind.

 

[LD3]

Spoken like a true useless and clueless sandflea that sees no problem with your dilipidated, kettle carrying, white flag waving, flying trash can airline! If you add blue and red to your logo, you would have a French flag...I Surrender

Please don't let your assessment of one employee reflect on others that work for US. The greatest asset @ this company are the senoir people from all work groups that stuck with this company, and in my opinion are the reason why this (your words) flying trash can airline is still flying. There are employees that are proud of their airline and they have every right to be, considering how mangement has beaten them down they still pull together and make their airline fly... Whether your East or West you are the best in the indusrtry given the limited tools you have to work with....

 

[john john]

Please don't let your assessment of one employee reflect on others that work for US. The greatest asset @ this company are the senoir people from all work groups that stuck with this company, and in my opinion are the reason why this (your words) flying trash can airline is still flying. There are employees that are proud of their airline and they have every right to be, considering how mangement has beaten them down they still pull together and make their airline fly... Whether your East or West you are the best in the indusrtry given the limited tools you have to work with....

I agree with everything you said expect the proud part

 

[Art at ISP]

Please don't let your assessment of one employee reflect on others that work for US. The greatest asset @ this company are the senoir people from all work groups that stuck with this company, and in my opinion are the reason why this (your words) flying trash can airline is still flying. There are employees that are proud of their airline and they have every right to be, considering how mangement has beaten them down they still pull together and make their airline fly... Whether your East or West you are the best in the indusrtry given the limited tools you have to work with....

I agree with this statement completely. It is the more experienced employees who kept me loyal to US for years longer than I should have stayed....

Unfortunately the current crew in Tempe looks at the senior employees (and all employees for that matter) as liabilities rather than assets and I do believe they really wish they could get rid of most if not all of the most senior ones with the most experience and hire minimum wage replacements......way to go US!

With regard to potential merger partners, there are a number of scenarios I see as possible, with more than one involving splitting East and West with each going to different entities. Unfortunately none of these scenarios would leave Dougie and Scooter in charge, so the likelihood of those happening is about as good as me earning Chairmans Preferred again....

For what its worth I do miss those of my friends who are still at US.....at least I do get to say hello once in a while when passing through CLT.

 

[Furloughd4now]

Please don't let your assessment of one employee reflect on others that work for US. The greatest asset @ this company are the senoir people from all work groups that stuck with this company, and in my opinion are the reason why this (your words) flying trash can airline is still flying. There are employees that are proud of their airline and they have every right to be, considering how mangement has beaten them down they still pull together and make their airline fly... Whether your East or West you are the best in the indusrtry given the limited tools you have to work with....

There are many "junior" people that are here now.... from all workgroups. Please don't "label" us as Junior or Senior Nor East or West. See thats what some of our problems are here! Seperate and Divide is WRONG! I've been here for 10 years and up until 6 months ago was considered a "new hire" (many of which will say 'oh thats nothing'), thats not the point... 10 years in any other industry is HUGE! So, please stop discounting the "juniors"...

Sorry to stray off topic...

 

[signals]

There are many "junior" people that are here now.... from all workgroups. Please don't "label" us as Junior or Senior Nor East or West. See thats what some of our problems are here! Seperate and Divide is WRONG! I've been here for 10 years and up until 6 months ago was considered a "new hire" (many of which will say 'oh thats nothing'), thats not the point... 10 years in any other industry is HUGE! So, please stop discounting the "juniors"...

Sorry to stray off topic...

Actually, you were more on topic than most. Divide-and-conquer is USs middle name and U the employees are buying into it hook-line-and sinker. This has been US employees downfall since the merger!

 

[Glucose Intolerant]

Actually, you were more on topic than most. Divide-and-conquer is USs middle name and U the employees are buying into it hook-line-and sinker. This has been US employees downfall since the merger!

Spot On