I borrowed this from another poster, check this out:
"I don't know anybody who's looked at it from 30,000 feet that would tell you that they think the standalone scenario is superior. [AMR] has not competed well when it was going from No. 1 to No. 2 now to the third position, and I don't see how a standalone would solve that, especially with this 'shrink and then re-grow' strategy they are doing."
– ROBERT W. MANN, AIRLINE ANALYST, R.W. MANN & COMPANY (06/07/12)
“AMR has a network disadvantage today, which has resulted in a substantial revenue disadvantage. A combined AMR-LCC eliminates the weaknesses present in each standalone airline and we project revenue synergies of $1.5 billion annually.”
– WILLIAM GREENE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, MORGAN STANLEY (6/10/12)
“US Airways still has a strong presence on the East Coast via its Charlotte (CLT) and Philadelphia (PHL) hubs, which together represent 67% of the company's traffic…Interestingly, US Airways, although mostly a domestic carrier, flies to more European destinations out of PHL than AMR does out of JFK, further indicating AMR's weak East Coast footprint. Thus, we think combining the carriers will expand revenue since AMR will benefit from US Airways' east coast presence and US Airways will benefit from AMR's Latin American exposure in Miami and Dallas. We believe the increased East Coast presence will enable AMR to shrink its revenue gap and lower its salary costs.”
– BASILI ALUKOS, EQUITY ANALYST, MORNINGSTAR (6/7/12)
Buddy La Follette
st Updated 6/13/12
“LCC and AMR together would be stronger than AMR alone, we believe. We view LCC’s route structure as being very complementary to AMR’s. LCC’s substantial eastern U.S. market presence, which it efficiently manages through its Philadelphia and Charlotte hubs, have much greater connectivity than AMR’s hub at JFK. AMR has struggled to generate this kind of connecting traffic in order to compete with Delta and United out of New York. The combined company could capitalize on LCC’s strong Eastern presence and combine both companies’ sizeable international presence to compete more effectively with United and Delta.”
– BOB MCADOO, ANALYST, IMPERIAL CAPITAL (5/29/12)
"Bottom line, 55,000 employees at AMR aren’t wrong; and it’s hard to envision the creditor’s committee ultimately supporting a plan where labor isn’t onboard. The precedent is powerful; consolidated airlines make superior business models.”
– DAN MCKENZIE, ANALYST, RODMAN & RENSHAW (6/13/12)
“A combined LCC/AMR, managed by the current LCC leadership, would be a stronger entity than would a standalone AMR, in our opinion. The added benefits of a merged entity would come from adding LCC’s substantial Eastern U.S. market presence and LCC’s existing Trans-Atlantic operation to AMR’s operation.”
– BOB MCADOO, ANALYST, IMPERIAL CAPITAL (5/29/12)
“The bottom line is that we believe a merger between AMR Corporation and US Airways would create a formidable competitor to both Delta and United. We also think that an AA/US merger would be positive for the US airline industry. Lastly, a deal would still need approval from the Department of Justice which typically focuses on city-pair concentration. In that regard, American and US Airways’ networks are complementary with only a dozen or so overlap routes out of several 1,000 domestic city-pairs.”
– MICHAEL LINENBERG, MANAGING DIRECTOR, DEUTSCHE BANK SECURITIES (05/28/12)
“Consolidation is positive for airline fundamentals in a number of ways but most importantly: (1) greater concentration of capacity in the industry would deter irrational pricing activity, (2) consolidation could take labor expense to levels similar to DAL/UAL, normalizing cost structures and reducing the incentive to price aggressively, and (3) consolidation could result in more conservative capacity trends at LCC/AMR.”
– WILLIAM GREENE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, MORGAN STANLEY (6/10/12)
"Such a merger would not be detrimental to oneworld. In terms of the joint business agreement any consolidation that increases the choices for our customers would be welcomed.”
– INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES GROUP (06/07/12)
“We think that an AA/US merger will be positive for the US airline industry. We also think the implications of a merger are positive for global airlines, particularly those in the oneworld alliance.”
– MICHAEL LINENBERG, MANAGING DIRECTOR, DEUTSCHE BANK SECURITIES
(05/28/12)
“The merger of US Airways and American has far more positive benefits than negative ones and their merger would play a major role in making the US Airline industry better! History shows a long list of once great airlines that failed. Each of those failed airlines had one thing in common. They all failed to remain competitive. It's the opinion of AirlineFinancials.com that American and US Airways must merge to remain long-term competitive.”
– ROBERT HERBST, ANALYST, AIRLINEFINANCIALS.COM (4/20/12)
“We estimate that AMR bondholders with impaired claims face a 21% downside if AMR doesn't merge with US Airways and a 41% upside if a merger occurs based on current trading levels; AMR shareholders get wiped out regardless; and US Airways shareholders have 30% downside with no deal and 59% upside if a deal occurs and the entity achieves all of our projected synergies.”
– BASILI ALUKOS, EQUITY ANALYST, MORNINGSTAR (6/7/12)