Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
Times change. The fact is that any merging on Legacies will have many hurdles to get over to win approval. That does not mean that they will not try.
Each execuitive branch knows that they are being forced in to a decision from multiple sources. ( Fuel, Bush leaving office, and the board members).
With all of this external pressure, it is only inevitable that someone tries. DAL will probably be the first that will announce, due to the fact that their board is stacked with people that want them to merge. IE hedge fund managers. I am sure that DAL has been fighting this tooth and nail, but at the end of the day they are squirrel's chasing a nut like us. They have people that they need to answer to as well.
"They have people that they need to answer to as well." Exactly right. RA may be the CEO, but he still has to answer to his bosses, who happen to be large creditors, ie. hedge funds. They want their money; DAL promised them a 10+ billion dollar market cap so they would side with them against LCC.
I do diverge with you in the fact that this combination would not pass DOJ muster. Whatever needs to be done for approval will be examined. That is why I am advocating the reduction in ATL. Also, the unions have little to say over this deal. They may try to steer the deal in a direction that is favorable to them, but in the end they have little legal recourse. I'm sure there are provisions in the respective contracts that will be triggered in a consolidating event, but in the end, mgt. wins. The unions will claim victory because of some deal that is reached that suits the senior employees at each airline. They control the dialogue that will drive the discussions with mgt. All the unions talk big to their constituents, but in the end, they compromise and sell the fact they caved to the rank and file as the best deal they could get. It's happens every day in politics and is no different with unions.
Air France just announced that their deal will result in approx. 1600 furloughs/layoffs. I suspect at least that on the pilot side in the NWA/DAL merger. I can't fathom it not happening. The whole idea behind this consolidation cycle is about reducing, not growing.