Originally Posted by
Sink r8
That's not a bad argument, actually. But I wonder if the comparison would work the same way as it did for UCAL.
If we merge, we have to open our TA to determine what's acceptable. Can you show me an airline that we might reaosnably be expected to merge with that has an unacceptable regional component to grandfather? I think ALK is covered in this TA, Jet Blue doesn't have any, I don't believe Hawaiian has any, and I don't think a part of American would come with RJ's. I know there are reports we're looking at a bid for UsAirways, but that seems completely implausible, and designed mostly to throw a rock in their own merger puddle.
So the only "protection" is that based on the more likely merger candidates, it *probably* might end up working out by coincidence. That's not good enough for me, but to further illustrate the real versus theoretical threat of this, AS has horrible scope and a large Horizon and growing SkyWest fleet. There is no way we will have the leverage to have all that parked upon a merger. There will be negotiations to integrate that feed and we will agree to it. The only question is how much and from what baseline do we start?
Not only the total baseline but the baseline of larger "RJ's" and even TP's. It won't matter if our current TA caps TP's at a pre-merger DL, those AC will be included in any post merger TA, unless they are traded for even more large RJ's. The large RJ's at SKYW will remain as well and only serve to up the "hard cap" of large RJ's. Guaranteed.