US Airways Sees ‘One Big Deal’ Left for U.S. Airline Mergers

USA320Pilot

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May 18, 2003
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US Airways Sees ‘One Big Deal’ Left for U.S. Airline Mergers

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US Airways CEO wants to be ready for a merger

"I'd like to be in the position Continental was in when they were talking to United," Parker said of two rivals that eventually merged to form the new United Airlines

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If Doug truly wants to be ready for a merger involving US and any one of the other major carriers, he's got a lot of work to do..labor contracts to start with. I for one would actually like to see US survive and be the surviving carrier but a lot of hard work remains
 
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The AFA can conclude an agreement. However, USAPA cannot reach an agreement with the company until the seniority integration is complete. Seniority is Section 22 of the contract and must be "closed out" before there can be a Tentative Agreement.

Therefore, it will be years-and-years until the pilots get a new contract. And, I believe until the joint labor contracts are complete (maybe not the AFA contract) US Airways will not merge with another airline because no company wants to merge with the Tempe-based carrier if all of the merger benefits cannot be obtained because the two companies cannot fully integrate.

In my opinion, US Airways will be the most vulnerable legacy airline until it merges with a larger company.
 
Here is a question, say the AFA reaches an agreement with the company, and USAPA doesnt yet, how does that effect the East FAs in regard to working a planes with West Pilot and Vice Versa, and same for the West FAs?

I understand after an agreement is reached they will be all one group.
 
usa320's articles come straight from Parker's session at US' media day in PHX. It nothing different than what he's said many times over the course of several years. In effect, they're just rehashing old news.

I've already mentioned your article in the other thread so 'nuf said.

Jim
 
Is this the long-heralded UCT that we've heard about?

(bonus points and date with either International Shannon or BoeingBoy for the first old-timer who posts the meaning of UCT...)
 
Puh-leeeease! Management created such a disaster with the last merger that NO ONE is interested in US as a merger partner. Even Greyhound has more class than US Airways and turns their nose up to US!

Doug had a chance to do this right back in 2005 and failed miserably. I doubt very seriously any airline - even Aeroflot - would consider US Airways attractive as a merger partner.
 
all of what has been said makes it obvious that US wants to be in a position to go after AA if AA ends up in BK and is unable to defend itself.... UA and DL certainly don't need US, particularly after the LGA/DCA slot deal.
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AA and US would have alot of network benefits, even if west is split off. obviously labor integration is necessary but if AA ends up in BK and has to rework its costs, Parker becomes pretty free to set the template for the new airline costs...
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If it occurredd, it would likely be the AA name but US as the corporate surviver.
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but you can look back at the US attempt to acquire DL and realize Parker is not done and realizes that US needs to "bulk up" or get left behind. He learned from the msitakes w/ the DL attempt - the least of which was saying that DL employees would be the target of the capacity that would have to be cut... and that won't be repeated again. Otherwise, there is more than a remote chance that Parker will show up in AMR's BK courtyard if they end up there.
 
Would a PHX hub and DFW hub work in the combined airline? With AMR's LGA and JFK current operations, LCC doing the LGA/DCA slot swap with DAL makes sense with a LCC/AMR merger.
 
If it occurredd, it would likely be the AA name but US as the corporate surviver.

Absolutely, otherwise the East pilot's change of control language kicks in.

AA is in no shape to buy anyone at this time and even if the could they would probably only want select pieces. Same for DL and UA/CO. US, being the smallest "network carrier" by a significant amount, is likely to be caught between the big network carriers and the low cost carriers.

If AA ends up in bankruptcy it could be a different story, but just like with DL a deal isn't guaranteed. The rumors of merging with smaller carriers is a very long shot. AS seems to be doing quiet well on it's own - why in the world would they want to get mixed up with the mess that's US? HA also seems to be doing well serving the islands and mainland/Asia from the islands - why would they want to get hitched to US and have to battle both the bigger network carriers as well as the low cost carriers. Frontier/Republic - what's the great value in a smallish DEN hub (US already serves it both ways - east and west - and is beating Frontier in those markets) and Republic 190's? Both East and West pilots/FA's should hope that never transpires.

Jim
 
Who would want to merge with US when five years later it hasnt completed the US/HP merger and is in no rush to do so.

Any company who had a BOD that actually cared would have shown DWI Doug and his merry band of thieves the door a long time ago.
 
I give him a little break on the contracts - his only real mistake was insisting on cost neutral for so long. The FA's contract settlement normally follows the pilots and the pilots were getting into this seniority battle by the time Parker came off of cost neutral and the company can't really do much about the seniority battle. So getting to both groups having combined contracts basically stopped for a few years.

Jim
 
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