Q. Would reservations centers be consolidated?
A. No answer on that at the moment, John --
Q. Are you going to continue painting our aircraft in the new US Airways livery? Or are you going to wait to see if we need to add the Delta logo to them... Thanks, George
A. Painting will continue on the fleet. We're going to operate as business as usual until we know for sure what's going to happen.
Q. I think currently Delta employess have to pay for non rev travel, will you keep it free
A. They pay a one time $50 a year fee. Too early to tell what the new pass program would be.
Q. As a QIK Assist on delpoyment teaching the QIK/sabre product, can we expect to remain with QIK/shares with the new airline, and will we remain with the Star Alliance, which is much stronger than Skyteam
A. A little early on the QIK question, also on the Star Alliance and SkyTeam question. Both are great alliances, so our customers would belong to one or the other of the best. Thanks for the question
Q. Please tell me that the Headquarters would remain in PHX.
A. No decision on that yet, Todd.
Q. Will USAirways be running the co. with the Delta name?
A. Yes. We did research with the HP-US merger which showed the US name had a stronger brand name. The same research shows DL's name is stronger as well.
Q. Any idea on the number of employees that may possibly be severed due to duplicate/overlapping positions?
A. As you might have heard on the webcast, we hope to do any of that through attrition, etc. Using our own merger as a guide, we've hired 4,000 folks since last year and recalled 700 pilots!
Q. from aaron...the heritage logo would get much bigger with the addition of northeast,western and of course, the pan am shuttle. would we still have a heritage logo?
A. It would be cool to see those throwback heritage planes flying around again wouldn't it?
Q. Is Delta Non Rev FCFS or Date of hire?
A. They board by date of hire.
Q. Do you expect this to start a merger frenzy in the industry?
A. We don't expect to "start" anything -- we're trying to do the right thing by the company...
Q. Do we have room at T4 in PHX to handle the Delta fleet?
A. We'd be putting airplanes, people, etc., where it makes sense to put them.
Q. If this went through about how long will it be till we see the Delta name on the planes?
A. Obviously -- the Delta name's already on a lot of airplanes. We're about a third of the way through painting the US Airways fleet.
Q. Why not merge with UA
A. We think this transaction represents the best opportunity for US
Q. You talk about these huge gains in potential synergies...but these synergies are dependent on its employees. What do you think the impact is going to be on Employee relations on both sides of this merger? Please not another AA-TWA
A. Agreed that employees are what make these work. Lots of synergies come from things like moving on one reservations system, IT systems, integrating facilities and the like. We're committed (as we were in the US Airways-America West merger) to fairness and equitable treatment of all employees in our contract talks.
Q. HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET THE MONEY NEEDED TO PAY DELTA FOR THE TRANSACTION?
A. About $4 billion comes from our stock (LCC) and the other $4 billion is cash from investors.
Q. It WILL be our Sr. Management team, right?
A. The plan is that Doug would continue to be CEO and just like the HP-US merger, there would be a mix of senior management from both airlines.
Q. How will this affect the transition talks now going on?
A. We're continuing those
Q. We both US Shuttle and Delta Connection be retained?
A. Assume you mean will we keep both Shuttle? The plan is to sell one of the Shuttles. Delta Connection is their regional service just like our Express product and we would keep the regional feed.
Q. What will this merger news do for relocation of the OCC Center and can we still plan to announce a location early 07'? Thank You
A. We're continuing with that decision as if this transaction weren't occurring -- "business as usual." And yes, timeline is still to have decision late January/early February.
Q. During the failed merger with United, the former US Airways management had no plan "B" and spent so much time and effort on the merger that they let the business as usual fall to the side. How do we know this won't happen again? This seems like a huge undertaking.
A. It is a huge undertaking, but our plan is "business as usual" here -- that is, we'll continue with the US Airways' - America West merger while working on the merger. Thanks.
Q. Does "taking on the Delta name" mean that a US Airways hub will now be in Atlanta?
A. There would be a large presence in Atlanta, sure.
Q. Are we going to keep the headquarters here in Arizona? If yes, will we need a bigger HQ building?
A. Doug answered on the call -- no decision on that yet.
Q. How do you feel about a bid from United for Delta?
A. We'd take it as it comes...
Q. If the merger is approved, will we remain in Star Alliance, or move to SkyTeam?
A. We plan to be in one of them, and we'd certainly have two good choices now.
A. No answer on that at the moment, John --
Q. Are you going to continue painting our aircraft in the new US Airways livery? Or are you going to wait to see if we need to add the Delta logo to them... Thanks, George
A. Painting will continue on the fleet. We're going to operate as business as usual until we know for sure what's going to happen.
Q. I think currently Delta employess have to pay for non rev travel, will you keep it free
A. They pay a one time $50 a year fee. Too early to tell what the new pass program would be.
Q. As a QIK Assist on delpoyment teaching the QIK/sabre product, can we expect to remain with QIK/shares with the new airline, and will we remain with the Star Alliance, which is much stronger than Skyteam
A. A little early on the QIK question, also on the Star Alliance and SkyTeam question. Both are great alliances, so our customers would belong to one or the other of the best. Thanks for the question
Q. Please tell me that the Headquarters would remain in PHX.
A. No decision on that yet, Todd.
Q. Will USAirways be running the co. with the Delta name?
A. Yes. We did research with the HP-US merger which showed the US name had a stronger brand name. The same research shows DL's name is stronger as well.
Q. Any idea on the number of employees that may possibly be severed due to duplicate/overlapping positions?
A. As you might have heard on the webcast, we hope to do any of that through attrition, etc. Using our own merger as a guide, we've hired 4,000 folks since last year and recalled 700 pilots!
Q. from aaron...the heritage logo would get much bigger with the addition of northeast,western and of course, the pan am shuttle. would we still have a heritage logo?
A. It would be cool to see those throwback heritage planes flying around again wouldn't it?
Q. Is Delta Non Rev FCFS or Date of hire?
A. They board by date of hire.
Q. Do you expect this to start a merger frenzy in the industry?
A. We don't expect to "start" anything -- we're trying to do the right thing by the company...
Q. Do we have room at T4 in PHX to handle the Delta fleet?
A. We'd be putting airplanes, people, etc., where it makes sense to put them.
Q. If this went through about how long will it be till we see the Delta name on the planes?
A. Obviously -- the Delta name's already on a lot of airplanes. We're about a third of the way through painting the US Airways fleet.
Q. Why not merge with UA
A. We think this transaction represents the best opportunity for US
Q. You talk about these huge gains in potential synergies...but these synergies are dependent on its employees. What do you think the impact is going to be on Employee relations on both sides of this merger? Please not another AA-TWA
A. Agreed that employees are what make these work. Lots of synergies come from things like moving on one reservations system, IT systems, integrating facilities and the like. We're committed (as we were in the US Airways-America West merger) to fairness and equitable treatment of all employees in our contract talks.
Q. HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET THE MONEY NEEDED TO PAY DELTA FOR THE TRANSACTION?
A. About $4 billion comes from our stock (LCC) and the other $4 billion is cash from investors.
Q. It WILL be our Sr. Management team, right?
A. The plan is that Doug would continue to be CEO and just like the HP-US merger, there would be a mix of senior management from both airlines.
Q. How will this affect the transition talks now going on?
A. We're continuing those
Q. We both US Shuttle and Delta Connection be retained?
A. Assume you mean will we keep both Shuttle? The plan is to sell one of the Shuttles. Delta Connection is their regional service just like our Express product and we would keep the regional feed.
Q. What will this merger news do for relocation of the OCC Center and can we still plan to announce a location early 07'? Thank You
A. We're continuing with that decision as if this transaction weren't occurring -- "business as usual." And yes, timeline is still to have decision late January/early February.
Q. During the failed merger with United, the former US Airways management had no plan "B" and spent so much time and effort on the merger that they let the business as usual fall to the side. How do we know this won't happen again? This seems like a huge undertaking.
A. It is a huge undertaking, but our plan is "business as usual" here -- that is, we'll continue with the US Airways' - America West merger while working on the merger. Thanks.
Q. Does "taking on the Delta name" mean that a US Airways hub will now be in Atlanta?
A. There would be a large presence in Atlanta, sure.
Q. Are we going to keep the headquarters here in Arizona? If yes, will we need a bigger HQ building?
A. Doug answered on the call -- no decision on that yet.
Q. How do you feel about a bid from United for Delta?
A. We'd take it as it comes...
Q. If the merger is approved, will we remain in Star Alliance, or move to SkyTeam?
A. We plan to be in one of them, and we'd certainly have two good choices now.
