Originally Posted by
DeadHead
I was thinking the same thing myself. I'm just curious how much money, time, and energy management would be willing to invest in Washngton to push through a small-medium merger/acquisition.
I think when your dealing with the Feds it all boils down to money, lobbyists, and greasing the right wheels.
Depending on how things shake out with this AA-US merger will be very telling on how this industry consolidates and changes in the the future. Personally I see it going through after certain slots and markets are gift-horsed out to the luckiest competitor. If I was a betting man I'd say SWA will get the most out of it, and we'll probably eek out a few things from it as well. The harm of stopping this merger outweighs the harm that would be created from it.
The government's new attitude is a huge development. Consolidation might be over no matter how many wheels get greased.
We got in just under the wire on our merger and one other big transaction:
Although management and the union misled (to use the polite word) the pilot group about the LGA/DCA slot swap with US Air, after last week's news that whole deal now looks like pure gold for Delta.
We got a lock on a big chunk of LGA slot capacity before the Justice Dept. decided to begin their little anti-trust hissy fit and US Air got a bunch of DCA slots that it now looks like they might have to surrender.
It wouldn't even surprise me if
we ended up with some of those same slots back, although most of any divested slots will probably go to new entrants willing to fly to some Congressman's district that doesn't currently have direct DCA service.