Will AA pursue Alaskan?

[BigMac]

Fair enough jim. Although it wasn't my intention to be crude it seems it came out that way. Looking like I may have been wrong about my baiting response post also. Guess I'm 0 for 2 today. Sorry guys.

 

[Kev3188]

In all honesty it wasn't my intention to be cold Kev. We did the maintenance on some of the grounded AC. Since we do not service that airline any longer I would like to see how the new jack screws are doing. My apologies if it came out distasteful. As far as my post to 700 goes..well it looked like a "bait" post and I wasn't going for it.

Fair point, and thanks for explaining. Sometimes I forget that tone & nuance don't always translate well in a written format.

Although the MD80 has long left the AS fleet, I can certainly support someone wanting to ensure mechanical integrity.
 
 

Someone just pointed this out to me yesterday. Strange but that does seem to bother some. AA, American, Airlines , Airways, it's all the same to me. My designation at work is Fleet Service Clerk. Whatever. When I tell people that's what I am they say "What's that?" It always reverts back to the easier to understand "Baggage Handler" eventually, lol.

Well, I went from "Equipment Service Chief" at NW to "Aircraft Load Agent" at DL... Go figure. Lol.

 

[WeAAsles]

Fair point, and thanks for explaining. Sometimes I forget that tone & nuance don't always translate well in a written format.

Although the MD80 has long left the AS fleet, I can certainly support someone wanting to ensure mechanical integrity.
 
 

Well, I went from "Equipment Service Chief" at NW to "Aircraft Load Agent" at DL... Go figure. Lol.

I think at US they're called agents too? I don't want to be an agent. Our agents wear skirts, lol.

Since people seem to need or like titles, I want to be called GSS. "Ground Service Specialist" I like the ring of that.

 

[UPNAWAY]

My guess is the DOJ would not approve any merger with the big 3 going forward, SW yes. 

 

[WeAAsles]

My guess is the DOJ would not approve any merger with the big 3 going forward, SW yes. 

Probably not unless they were going Chapter 7 and were being broken up and then it would probably be shuffled out like a deck of cards to the airlines who wanted the planes and routes.

Government intervention at it's finest.

 

[Kev3188]

I think at US they're called agents too? I don't want to be an agent. Our agents wear skirts, lol.

Since people seem to need or like titles, I want to be called GSS. "Ground Service Specialist" I like the ring of that.

Not bad!

I've certainly been called worse...

 

[USFlyer]

Depends on the overlap.  The more AS grows into other carriers' markets, the more difficult it becomes to get any potential merger with any of the big 4 approved in the future.

 

[WeAAsles]

Not bad!

I've certainly been called worse...

Recently too I bet, lol. I think a certain someone is calling me the same thing?

 

[eolesen]

I suspect the days of a merger involving any airline with >15% of the domestic market are over.

You might see combinations of smaller carriers, but it would appear that the industry has finally pushed up against the DOJ's and the various state AG's limits.

Instead, you'll see something more along the lines of what DL tried to do with AS and failed at -- codesharing with enhanced customer benefits -- or equity investments, have been allowed in the past.

 

[WorldTraveler]

My guess is the DOJ would not approve any merger with the big 3 going forward, SW yes.

and yet WN is still the largest carrier on the west coast in terms of passenger boardings.


while the current DOJ has believed WN's PR dept. about low fares, WN has likely milked that distinction for the last time.

It is highly unlikely that WN will have the fare advantage that they claim for more than a few more years if even that long... and in the meantime, WN labor is standing around looking for pay raises like what they got in the past and WN simply can't give them based on the revenues they are generating relative to their costs.

AS has low labor costs despite paying industry standard salaries (where they haven't contracted stuff out) because AS has been rapidly growing. As part of WN or another airline, AS quits growing and their costs go up.

getting rid of the M80s was as much about adding new technology aircraft under a similar model - ala WN - as it was about running from the M80.

if running from a particular model that was involved in an accident was the motivation, the conversation could easily be turned to the A300 for AA.

 

[737823]

If AA ever merges with AS I wonder if the IAM would bring AS type scope to ramp/fleet service and have the vast majority of stations vendored (except 600 employees in state of Alaska)

Josh

 

[WorldTraveler]

given that there is no evidence of any legacy merger replacing outsourced work at the time of the merger, at the minimum, the work won't come back to mainline.

 

[ChockJockey]

I'd personally rather see AS continue to succeed as a standalone for as long as they can.

 

[WorldTraveler]

so would they... wish is what they will likely do....

they just have to deal with significant growth in their key markets right now.


a certain airline's pilots has said their CEO says a new narrowbody pilot crew base will open in SEA this year, confirming that the growth is coming and won't stop.

AS has to figure out how to work within that changed environment.

 

[Duke787]

It looks like Alaska airlines will be pushed hard for revenues with delta going big into Seattle. I would bet that delta will do to Alaska what AA did to Legend airlines in Dallas.

With Alaska stock so high I don't think there will be a hostile merger but the Alaska board might do a merge to get the best possible deal for themselves.