Originally Posted by
WYSIWYG
I doubt SW would be able to get passed the DOJ to purchase a larger carrier. As of today, the combined market cap ( AS/SW) would be almost 30% higher than Deltas . Over a 1000 narrowbodies . And if SW would make a bid and potentially go forward with an acquisition , the other big 3 will not stand idle by and watch .
You’re going to be very disappointed then if you really believe that. Most of the time with Airline Mergers 1+1 doesn’t = 2, it usually equals 1.5. There’s always some overlap and route rationalization that happens after a merger to bring the synergies of the combined carrier together. In the hypothetical WN/AS, the combined market cap would probably put the carrier on parody with the Big 3 from an ASM perspective even if the total narrowbody fleet count was higher. This has already been established and make a combination by WN with either AS or B6 most likely palatable to regulators with minimal to no divestiture required to receive regulatory approval.