UA/CO Merger Thread-Post Announcement

[mweiss]

My guess is that EWR and IAD continue as strong international gateways with enough feed to keep the international flights full, CLE gets further downsized (ala STL) and that DEN becomes less important, but escapes being STL'd for the time being. Today's announcements say that Houston will be the largest hub.

I understand all of that except the DEN part. Why draw down DEN? It networks well for routes within the West that are not up and down the coast. I hardly see DEN and IAH as substitutes for each other.

 

[jimntx]

My guess is that EWR and IAD continue as strong international gateways with enough feed to keep the international flights full, CLE gets further downsized (ala STL) and that DEN becomes less important, but escapes being STL'd for the time being. Today's announcements say that Houston will be the largest hub.

As someone who lived in Houston for many years and is a great fan of CO, this sounds nice. But, I have to ask...Won't making Houston the largest hub mean a reduction at ORD? I can't believe that CO has more flights out of IAH than UA has out of ORD.

 

[mweiss]

I can't believe that CO has more flights out of IAH than UA has out of ORD.

I can. ORD is a shared hub with AA, with the same number of runways as at IAH. Now ORD may have more pax than does IAH, since CO flies smaller aircraft.

 

[UALbagboy]

IAH has more flights than ORD, by about 50.

Also, there is no way in heck that United will cut flights at ORD. They will never budge or concede anything to American at that airport.

 

[UALbagboy]

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2010/05/experts_unions_shareholders_ca.html

Ugh, looks like some CAL shareholder will vote BLOCK!

 

[signals]

Were the labor groups brought into the discussions early on this, as the pilot group at DL (the only unionized group they had) was? Will there be fences? DOH integration?

I read that UA and CO pilots were holding secret meetings for months, and since they aren't protesting the marriage I assume they are OK with it. It was funny that the 'white flags' were never mentioned in pilot discussions.

 

[Borescope]

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2010/05/experts_unions_shareholders_ca.html

Ugh, looks like some CAL shareholder will vote BLOCK!

Bagboy,
This is just a group of Ambulance Chasing Attorney's looking to profit from the deal. I imagine they will get what they are after (money) in exchange for the deal going through. Just a speed bump along the road. I wouldn't think this will be hard to contend with.

 

[FA Mikey]

will the government force the combined carrier to give up some slots at places like GRU NRT LHR or certain rights to China?

 

[CALFLYBOY]

No one knows for sure if the government will require any asset divestitures. Let's wait and see.

ORD is it not slot constrained? I know IAH is not. IAH will be the company's main Latin America gateway with targeted service to Latin America from various other hubs.

For now CLE remains, but we are under no illusion that it could be the first hub on the chopping block. If anything for now, CLE could be a reliever hub for ORD.

DEN has F9 and WN keeping capacity high and fares lower. Therfore, the combined company is going to want to improve yield out of there eventually. If not, then ???

EWR and IAD will coexist as they are today. From what I have heard neither is cannibalizing the other. EWR is blessed with more O&D traffic and is the number one business market. EWR is here to stay.

As for seniority integration, rightfully so, the CO folks are a bit flipped out at the moment. UAL employees are generally more senior over all. The overwhelming majority of CO employees were hired in the last 15 years. So we will see what integration will bring. Houston employees are sad and angered because the combined company will no longer be headquartered in Houston. Oh well. The sun will rise tomorrow.

 

[767jetz]

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2010/05/experts_unions_shareholders_ca.html

Ugh, looks like some CAL shareholder will vote BLOCK!

Relax. These are people hoping to make a run at a better price to cash out. They will not be a majority and certainly won't stop the merger. This type of thing always happens in big mergers. The board will recommend a positive vote and most stockholders will follow their lead.

 

[767jetz]

will the government force the combined carrier to give up some slots at places like GRU NRT LHR or certain rights to China?

No. Not likely. These are not routes that we compete with CO on, so there is no increase market share caused by this merger. UA has slots to LHR that are not being used and could add more flights tomorrow if they wanted to. In fact it wasn't long ago that UA sold a few slots from EWR to LHR because they were not being utilized.

 

[USFlyer]

The livery looks kind of odd to me, but I think it represents the best compromise.
This is a merger of equals and it is important for the CO employees to know that their heritage is not lost.

I think the typeface is wrong for the United name. I think the logo is more appropriate for a global carrier, but the "United" on the side looks strange.

 

[JFK Fleet Service]

Interesting yes?

 

[JFK Fleet Service]

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Jennings Heilig

 

[767jetz]

Check out this guys work.

Jennings Heilig

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