Originally Posted by
LittleBoyBlew
On the OTHER hand...A "stand alone" AA would most probably succumb to industry economic pressures as Delta and UA morph into Global Carriers. They are now strengthening international alliances that will eventually lead to industry dominance. Their economic strengths will allow them to compete, not only in pricing, but in service and quality, and efficiency. Fuel purchases will be in the high billions. Allowing them to purchase/refine product at reduced prices, therefore improving their respective margins. Their innovation and out of the box strategies will inflict tremendous revenue pressure on AA. This will require additional OUT-SOURCING of up to 50% of domestic capacity, among other painful retractions. In the long run AA and US will be nothing more than 3rd tier FEEDERS for the NEW big kids on the block....
Ask the wife and kids how THEY feel about this...
Damn, I am agreeing with you again! This must stop!
I would like to offer some additional points. The combined carrier would be equal to UCAL and Delta. The hubs are to stay according to Parker's plan but you will see flying shifted around to wherever more lucrative flying occurs. We have seen that in our merger where LAS closed due to a big increase in costs and flying was added out of CLT and PHL with the closure of LGA and BOS.
Things will change after the merger but they will change for the better. The combined carrier will be a lot stronger and both sides going in have aircraft orders to take. Hortons plan would have the AA pilots stagnate, since lots of those "exciting new orders" will go to replace aging maddogs and 757s. And the increase in code share and RJs will just continue the stagnation, except for the attrition as age 65 kicks in. I have a strong belief that native AA pilots will do well in a SLI because of the larger widebody fleet and the upside for a merger is what drives the APA leadership.