To shed the massive debts and labor contracts required to absorb Spirit, and emerge a lean, mean, number 5 fighting machine?

If you’re still lost on what the heck I’m talking about, go do some reading on mergers & acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, and Chapter 11 as a tool for restructuring after a costly acquisition to gain market share and prime real estate. It’s a tried and true long-term business strategy, especially in this industry.

None of us has any idea what the company wants the post-acquisition airline to actually look like…particularly the fleet size over time, vs. the crew composition.

It’s obviously out of our hands at this point, I just find it sort of alarming how many pilots seem so gung-ho cheerleading the acquisition, when these things can and do lead to restructuring and “right-sizing” on occasion.

I just hope our unions are smart enough to ask for furlough protections in JCBA talks!