Originally Posted by
Ted Striker
Why would jetblue’s board want anything to do with AA in the event they’ve been through BK. Wouldn’t jetblue just grow organically rather than take on a business model which is much different than what’s in place already. Not to mention the integration nightmare and drawn out associated costs that come with it + whatever debt is left over. You’d be taking on massive hubs which use droves of regional feed to supply widebody flights, which we don’t do. After this shakes out, aircraft will be much easier to acquire. Seems to be a plethora of pilots scattered around from furloughs. I’m sure gate space will open up around various airports from pullbacks. It just doesn’t add up to me. Just because it creates a bigger airline doesn’t necessarily mean it will produce the best shareholder return. I think it would be a different story if this drags on into 2022 and airlines can’t file bk fast enough. Then it’s a find a dancing partner time for everyone or be squeezed out.
If AAL goes through chapter 11, they would come out very lean but with some incredible assets left over.(I Assume) The DFW, CLT, DCA and MIA hub. The gates in LAX and ORD. Assuming they hold on to most of these in bankruptcy, they would need a merger partner to fill the holes for all the new aircraft that they are bound to lose in bankruptcy. I could see many reasons for it. Our board would probably be in the drivers seat and some would end up on the new board with some of our executives running things. It would be a carrier that completely owns the East Coast.
It would be a disaster for mid to senior Jetblue pilots. We would be merging with an airline that would have thousands of pilots on the street. It would be AWA/USAir all over again but I doubt we would get the deal the AWA guys got just because we still had jobs.