Originally Posted by
Professor
M&A can also be helped by momentum. Clearly we have that at Delta at the moment. Buying AS and a JAL JV would shore up our network holes as they currently stand. If I were mgmt, I would see no reason to capture the elements required to execute a grand strategy now. The price of these carriers/aircraft on the market are not going to go down from here.
Clearly the market now believes that our corporate structure is well equipped for M&A activity, with SoC behind us it appears that this management team has pulled off the least bloody merger in modern aviation history.
Yep, I agree. If we are going to do the AK thing, we should do it now. I'd imagine a merger with them would be very easy for the integration teams to pull off. The teams are still in place, know exactly what to do, and it is a common fleet type which should be very easy for them. Maybe they will give us another 5% restoration for "supporting" the merger.