UA and US want another wedding

[JF Mezei]

Rumours about that UA and US are (once again) in merger talks.

Meanwhile, I heard that Jetblue is hopping in bed with AA where Jetblue
will act as a feeder to AA intl flights at JFK. (and AA will allow its
passenters to connect to Jetblue flighst to destinations not served by AA).


Back to UA/US: Has anything changed that would make this attempt succeed
where both previous attempts (2000 and 2008) failed ?

Should this merger happen, wouldn't that leave Continental an eternal
bachelor without any partners with which to merge ?
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[matt weber]

On Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:40:19 -0400, JF Mezei

Post by JF Mezei
Rumours about that UA and US are (once again) in merger talks.
Meanwhile, I heard that Jetblue is hopping in bed with AA where Jetblue
will act as a feeder to AA intl flights at JFK. (and AA will allow its
passenters to connect to Jetblue flighst to destinations not served by AA).
Back to UA/US: Has anything changed that would make this attempt succeed
where both previous attempts (2000 and 2008) failed ?

The two carriers continue to have a very large position in the IAD/DCA
market, and that tends to be very troubling to regulators. They are
either going to have to off load a great many DCA/IAD slots/markets,
or spin off a new Airline to serve those markets (rebirth of DC Air).

If anything the two carriers are now in worse financial condition than
they were in 2000.

The great unknown is of course Labor, and given how well the US Air
Pilots like how the integration went, and the fact that the resulting
airline will certainly end up with fewer Unionized positions than two
carriers have today, I cannot see the Labor Unions being at all
cooperative. Relations between management and the Pilot's Union for
both carriers aren't exactly friendly...

The other question is who is the surviging carrier. I suspect Tilton
just wants his Golden Parachute. United seems to be focused on
outsourcing as much of the airline as they can. The only growth at UA
in the past several years has been via contracted regional operations.

Neither carrier's management is anything to get excited about, so I
don't expect the combined management to be any real improvement.

Post by JF Mezei
Should this merger happen, wouldn't that leave Continental an eternal
bachelor without any partners with which to merge ?

Perhaps, but that isn't necessarily bad. CO has been on its own for a
very long time, and has generally done better than their competitors
on the balance sheet.

A bad merger or acquisition is worse than none at all.
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[Jeff Hacker]

Post by JF Mezei
Rumours about that UA and US are (once again) in merger talks.
Meanwhile, I heard that Jetblue is hopping in bed with AA where Jetblue
will act as a feeder to AA intl flights at JFK. (and AA will allow its
passenters to connect to Jetblue flighst to destinations not served by AA).
Back to UA/US: Has anything changed that would make this attempt succeed
where both previous attempts (2000 and 2008) failed ?

The difference this time is the Delta/Northwest merger. Although US's PHL
hub and UA's IAD hub are close together, this is really no worse than the
former NW hub at DTW and the DL hub at CVG.

Frankly, depending on who runs a combined operation, I'm beginning to think
a UA/US merger makes some sense (they both fly similar domestic fleets, and
UA's international service quite complements US's limited international
flights.

Post by JF Mezei
bachelor without any partners with which to merge ?

Continental doesn't need to merge with another legacy carrier. They can
survive as a standalone or even look at one of the new entrants or Alaska if
they feel the need.

Post by JF Mezei
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[John Levine]

Post by Jeff Hacker
Continental doesn't need to merge with another legacy carrier. They can
survive as a standalone or even look at one of the new entrants or Alaska if
they feel the need.

Seems to me a lot would depend on what happened to their relationship
with their new Star Alliance buddies. If the combined UA/US still
codeshares and aligns schedules, CO could get a lot of the benefit of
a merger without the labor hassles.

R's,
John
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[JF Mezei]

Now, UA is openly courting both US and Continental.

If the wedding is with Continental, would it be fair to assume that the
resultring corporation would have mostly Continental staff in high
management ?

The media seem keen on a UA-CO merger, saying they would have fewer
union problems and less anti-trust issues because of less overlap in
their routes.
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