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South West wants D.C. slots!

the previous slot bid was a blind auction so I'm not sure it is accurate to say WN overbid without knowing what anyone else was going to bid. B6 bid high but has used most of their DCA slots to go after one market at the cost of $3/pax even if the slot costs are spread over 30 years... that's a high cost to develop a relatively small DCA presence.

WN's growth about 10 years ago was driven by lower fuel prices than the majors because WN was able to retain its hedges when other carriers could not. WN had a substantial cost advantage and used it against network carriers.

Here is an article showing how fuel price differences are providing an advantage today...

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/11/08/delta-air-lines-hitting-on-all-cylinders-despite-h.aspx
 
dash8roa said:
While many employees are backing this merger, many of those same employees will be given pink slips due to the synergy that is being pushed by Doug Parker that includes reducing the work force.
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I agree, mergers reduce jobs. Something that the Unions at AA seem to have forgotten. Due to the fact that most carriers already slashed their Mechanic workgroups I don't recall any of them laying off mechanics after their mergers, other work groups did take cuts, especially management.
Still not a Cheerleader for the merger.
 
swamt said:
"Those anticompetitive effects could be mitigated only if a significant number of slots were divested to Southwest".
 
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Why Southwest? Why not Allegiant,Frontier,Spirit,jetblue or Virgin America? The government could have another auction open to all "Low Fare" carriers couldn't they? 
 
The anticompetitive effects go away if Southwest is the sole beneficiary of any divestitures? As the article says "Divested to Southwest",which leads one to believe they  think they alone are entitled to the freebies.
 
If I'm not mistaken the government didn't even consider Southwest as 'competition' in their objection,but now Southwest inserts themselves into the discussion.Quite a steaming pile camel dung.
 
JFK Fleet Service said:
Why Southwest? Why not Allegiant,Frontier,Spirit,jetblue or Virgin America? The government could have another auction open to all "Low Fare" carriers couldn't they? 
 
The anticompetitive effects go away if Southwest is the sole beneficiary of any divestitures? As the article says "Divested to Southwest",which leads one to believe they  think they alone are entitled to the freebies.
 
If I'm not mistaken the government didn't even consider Southwest as 'competition' in their objection,but now Southwest inserts themselves into the discussion.Quite a steaming pile camel dung.
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Now you see how good SW is at this game.   Actually (and I am only assuming here) the article is from a paper in FW TX, so I am sure the statement about SW is because they are the local LCC.  Pretty sure there will be an Auction style bidding, just like the last one, that JB out bid and over paid for their slots, so see, SW is not a  shoe in on this, it's just a local paper announcing a local LCC.  If it was pressed out of NY they would have said JB, out of CO, they would have said Frontier, out of CA, they would have said Virgin.  Get it?  I assure you there will be more airlines involved with the bidding. 
BTW, as Jim has posted previously, remember the 40 years of hate and torment that AA has put on SWA, trying to force SWA out of bus??  It really is going to come back and haunt them (AA). 
 
you still think it is all about revenge?
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Not all, but part? Absolutely. What you don't realize is this has been going on for years and years but by only a very little at a time so that it is not very noticeable at all. SWA very sneaky, and will get what they want. Let us not forget the legal briefs that all airlines had a chance to provide to the courts by Nov 15 for their inputs on how their airlines could compete and reduce fares for the consumers. I believe Delta decided not to participate, bad choice in my opinion, by Delta...
 
yes, I absolutely realize how N. Texas aviation has been shaped by the ongoing spat between WN and AA. And if Karma is real then I don't disagree that AA is about ready to hear a real loud wakeup call.

Factor in that the WA restrictions fall/change within months of when AA is trying to pull off a merger and will be facing substantially increased competition in DCA as a price to get the merger passed in the first place, and I have long said that AA is vulnerable and WN is likely to be the big beneficiary. That hasn't changed over the pats two weeks.

None of what has happened at DAL should have taken place. If the city of Dallas was determined that DAL should not be used for commercial traffic again, they should have bulldozed the runways at the same time they forced every airline out of the airport. City planners around the world will ensure that what has happened at DAL will never happen at another airport.

All of that is now water under the bridge and doesn't change that DAL is a federally funded airport and has to meet requirements for access by competing carriers as well as not become an exception to federal antitrust laws. WN is the dominant airline at MDW and HOU among other airports but other carriers can and do serve those airports. That is all this case comes down to and it is WN's best interest to find a solution to allow DL, an equally politically savvy and also very profitable airline, to compete in an airport that will have flights to some of DL's top markets - and DL is determined that it will be able to compete in those markets.

I still haven't heard an explanation as to why DL should have filed a legal brief regarding the merger when the settlement agreement wasn't known and the brief didn't ask the question of whether airlines wanted access to DCA or not. Noticeably, a whole lot of other airlines didn't file briefs either. Apparently, they didn't believe that filing a brief was necessary in order to be considered to have access to AA/US assets.

There are a whole lot of unclear legal issues regarding DAL and the slots that could be challenged. Other carriers, including DL, will have to decide how far they want to push the case but I am very certain DL will not walk away empty-handed from the slot divestiture process, including being pushed out of DAL because they happened to lease gates from AA and the settlement agreement requires AA to no longer hold gate rights at DAL.
 
Dl can challenge all they want the bottom line is the merger is a done deal just about.. as far as dal that going to be remaining to see what happens and before we know it oct 14 2014 will be very fast approaching
 
WorldTraveler said:
yes, I absolutely realize how N. Texas aviation has been shaped by the ongoing spat between WN and AA. And if Karma is real then I don't disagree that AA is about ready to hear a real loud wakeup call.

Factor in that the WA restrictions fall/change within months of when AA is trying to pull off a merger and will be facing substantially increased competition in DCA as a price to get the merger passed in the first place, and I have long said that AA is vulnerable and WN is likely to be the big beneficiary. That hasn't changed over the pats two weeks.

None of what has happened at DAL should have taken place. If the city of Dallas was determined that DAL should not be used for commercial traffic again, they should have bulldozed the runways at the same time they forced every airline out of the airport. City planners around the world will ensure that what has happened at DAL will never happen at another airport.

All of that is now water under the bridge and doesn't change that DAL is a federally funded airport and has to meet requirements for access by competing carriers as well as not become an exception to federal antitrust laws. WN is the dominant airline at MDW and HOU among other airports but other carriers can and do serve those airports. That is all this case comes down to and it is WN's best interest to find a solution to allow DL, an equally politically savvy and also very profitable airline, to compete in an airport that will have flights to some of DL's top markets - and DL is determined that it will be able to compete in those markets.

I still haven't heard an explanation as to why DL should have filed a legal brief regarding the merger when the settlement agreement wasn't known and the brief didn't ask the question of whether airlines wanted access to DCA or not. Noticeably, a whole lot of other airlines didn't file briefs either. Apparently, they didn't believe that filing a brief was necessary in order to be considered to have access to AA/US assets.

There are a whole lot of unclear legal issues regarding DAL and the slots that could be challenged. Other carriers, including DL, will have to decide how far they want to push the case but I am very certain DL will not walk away empty-handed from the slot divestiture process, including being pushed out of DAL because they happened to lease gates from AA and the settlement agreement requires AA to no longer hold gate rights at DAL.
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Hey WT..Here's a blast from the past....read the last paragraph.....I AM VERY CERTAIN DL WILL NOT WALK AWAY EMPTY-HANDED FROM THE SLOT DIVESTITURE PROCESS.......
 
Care to emend this statement?
 
WT, don't toot too quickly here.  As I am sure DL will in fact look for any and all loop holes to get the gates at LF.  DL is now looking at legalities on something to do with ticket sales for gates they knew they did not have.  DL not looking as good as you thought themselves.  I am going by pretty good source on this, if I am wrong I will correct myself, but it appears that DL is having some set backs.  Don't take this as me saying DL won't have a minute chance, but it is even more unlikely they will get the gates at LF.  Just a heads up, didn't know if you knew about these issues coming up.
 
that is what you hope and it is indeed possible.

but let's also be clear that if it is such a slam dunk, then DL would have been forced to pull its flight schedule and WN would have published its, not just at DAL but also at DCA.

but that hasn't happened.

And it still doesn't change that DL is playing nice at the negotiating table but that doesn't mean that if the options all run out, that the courts aren't called upon to sort it all out.

what is also very apparent is that neither AA or WN want to compete with DL. That is the most flattering part of the whole deal. Both are bending over backwards - to each other to try and keep DL out of the party.

It doesn't take too long of a look at the history of the US airline industry to know why - because WN has run into more roadblocks in achieving its strategic objectives up against DL than any other airline and for AA's part that DL has succeeded at pulling more business away from AA than probably any other airline. And if you or anyone wants to argue those points, I'd like to see the examples.

Further, DL still has enormous competitive capacity and they will use it one way or the other. They will fight to get what they believe they should be able to have as a result of the slot divestiture but they aren't about ready to let up against either AA or WN or anyone else based on the outcome of the asset divestiture.

You clearly find yourself in the business of being WN's chief proponent on this board... perhaps you can also explain how and why WN hasn't been able to grow its presence on a sustained basis in any key DL market since BK.
 
WorldTraveler said:
what is also very apparent is that neither AA or WN want to compete with DL. That is the most flattering part of the whole deal. Both are bending over backwards - to each other to try and keep DL out of the party.


 
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That's a bold statement, DL pulled down their DFW service in the past, what makes you think that SW and AA are shaking now?
 
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