Originally Posted by
rickair7777
There are some benefits to buying whole, if you're interested in specific assets.
If the price is right, you can cherry pick what you want, and then auction off the rest yourself at your leisure. Otherwise you'd have to fight it out at auction.
Also gates and slots are typically owned/controlled by the airport authority and probably do not transfer as assets... the local authority would simply re-allocate those to maximize benefit to their local travelers and economy, whether that's a startup airline for competitive reasons, specific destinations, or even bringing in foreign airlines to enhance the tourist economy. The only way to keep gates/slots in many cases is to continue to operate per the original terms of the lease/allocation. Yes, there are a few jurisdictions where you can in fact transfer such things but those probably aren't the ones other airlines would be excited about.
What scope provisions does the NK CBA have regarding sale/transfer of aircraft (outside of BK)?
I keep hearing that United and American plan to grow their fleets by hundreds of aircraft over the next however many years. If an airline could somehow acquire 200 planes right now, how much would that cost and how much does it cost them in lost revenue (credit cards) not having those planes? I gotta believe it would be cheaper to buy Spirit even along with its debt. It comes down to what it is worth to the buyer, not necessarily just asset value minus debt.
Full disclosure…I’m an idiot