Until we have a copy of the fee per departure contract (which isn't public to my knowledge) we'll just have to wait and see if there are escape clauses triggered by change of control. Beyond that it's just speculation.

The focus of a merger is reduce competition, increase pricing power, and increase efficiency (that's market synergy if you're an MBA). In a merger of any two companies, there will an attempt to remove overlap. In the case of airlines, a fee-per-departure agreement will receive scrutiny as they are not as attractive with oil at $110/barrel.

I think the bottom line is this: what is the value of feed to the combined network considering fee-per-departure agreements with 100% fuel pass-through? Unfortunately, the answer to that question won't be public, and we'll have to wait for the press release like everyone else should the benefit of feed agreements change.

From a CBA perspective, you can be sure that a combined labor force will attempt to strengthen scope.