Originally Posted by gatorhater

No I don’t remember. However, you don’t ‘need cash’ to file bankruptcy. What you need is cash on hand to operate while going through the process. If that cash is not available the judge gets to sell your assets to create that cash and satisfy obligations to creditors. $400m is a lot of money for you and I, but not that much when it comes to operating expenses of the 3rd largest, at the time, airline in the world.

One of the largest, and easily moved assets was the lease on the C/D gates in ATL. Southwest and others had been trying to get into ATL for years. AirTran wanted to expand in ATL. The city was a creditor and could have easily gotten more $$ than ASA was paying for another airline to get their foot in the door. New or expanded airline would then be primed to make a direct run at Delta on their home turf. One way to guard against that was by protecting the C/D gates from the bankruptcy court.

By contrast very little of CVG traffic was by CVG locals. It was a connecting point (like MEM post merger) and therefore could be worked around and Delta would be just fine without it. They used ComAir as a place to hide losses, just like Inc. used ASA.



If they needed cash they would also have sold ComAir for $400m but it was frequently mentioned Delta’s ask was $1b for the exact same thing as ASA. The airlines were roughly the same size and composition, the major difference was the ATL gates.

Originally Posted by amcnd

“Don’t think”??? Yes they do...

Originally Posted by 701EV

amend, is that documented for public information? We keep hearing that skywest already sold the gates back to delta. Then we hear no, the gates are in play.

701EV

Originally Posted by 701EV

Delta needed the cash for the law firm that did the bankruptcy. That money was put into a account, like an escrow. I forget the legal term. The money is there so the law firm gets paid regardless of what happens to Delta. So if Delta doesn't survive and has to be liquidated the law firm is not waiting for the judge to pay the lawyers. The lawyers get their money first. That is what my sources told me back in 05.

701EV

Originally Posted by gatorhater

I’m sure $400m helps in some way, I doubt the law firm got all of that. Some went to sr mgmt retention, some went to lawyers, some may have gone to AirServe and Gate Gourmet, who knows. My point is there are several ways Delta could come up with the money and only one option allowed them to protect 25% of their gate space in ATL. My argument is that was the driving decision as to which asset to sell to get the $$.

Originally Posted by gatorhater

The AA schedule right?😉

Sorry for my contribution to the thread wandering.