Originally Posted by
VacancyBid
Could United buy JB's 220 operation?
Assume some suitor wants JB but not all of it. Could United buy the 220 operation? 220 rated pilots come to United. Rest go to Alaska or whoever. FA's I guess would just have to bid. Probably would get a chunk of JFK slots also.
Advantages
1) United gets SNB with increased regional scope
2) Doesn't trigger Bond-McCaskill
3) Fencing is simpler with no type overlap between UAL and JB crews
4) less anti-trust concern
5) United throws cash at the big deal, making it easier to deal with debt/acquisition costs
I think there's some precedent here with PanAm. Not quite sure of the details.
United doesn’t seem to want the 220 or any similar sized aircraft. If they did they could order max7’s and not have to deal with the expense of adding a fleet type. I’m sure at this point that it will be certified before a merger/acquisition got settled. Any type of merger would also take years and if UA wanted 220’s they could simply order them and get them configured from the factory and avoid the expense, time, and mess. At the end of the day JetBlue doesn’t really have anything that UA wants or needs outside of the JFK slots.