I don't know, I think Horton is pretty accurate in most of what he says.

“Let’s go back and look at history a little bit. This is not US Airways’ first attempt at this. This is a small company very strategically limited, I would argue – not any international flying, hubs of less strategic importance.

This will be their fourth try at this: Twice for United, once for Delta while they were restructuring, now American. I would argue that this will be every bit as successful as their prior tries. I’m not sure what’s in the water out there in Phoenix. Maybe it’s the cactus. I don’t know what it is."

The hubs for US Airways are not in the same strong markets like AA. Chicago, New York, Dallas are more robust cities than Charlotte or Philly or Phoenix for that matter. The LCC hubs in PHL and PHX are in the 4th and 5th largest cities in the US and are fully capable of supporting hub operations with strong O&D traffic but they are smaller markets. CLT is a much smaller city and the financial hub it was 10 years ago is not as strong. It is a good alternative to traffic through ATL and so it does remain competitive but we are not American.

Once AMR restrucures they will be as strong as Delta or UCAL if they build up Pacific traffic and other international destinations. Right now what Horton said about LCC also applys in many ways to AA. American is strong in the transAtlantic market and South America but they don't have the worldwide coverage the others do, particularly when you factor in the stronger alliances AA's competitors have.