Velocipede

Obviously, CAL will be the survivor. Tilton's going to take the golden parachute and bail. Only CAL management can make this work. If UAL management is involved, both will crash and burn.

B757200ER

Pure speculation. Noone knows this except the creditors, investment bankers and Board members of each company. And forget trying to opine about seniority integration, furloughs or down-sizing: It is an exercise in futility.

I agree CAL's managers are good, and their recent history (since '94 when Bethune showed up) is excellent. They've run a good, safe, on-time and profitable airline, and their managers are to be commended. (I read "From Worst to First" by Gordone Bethune and recommend it highly).

But why are you all bad-mouthing UAL? UAL went into chapter 11, yes. And they've made HUGE mistakes, yes. But, their present management brought the company OUT of bankruptcy, wiped away most of their debt, down-sized to a fleet they could be profitable with and have actually been making operating profits. This is NO small task after what UAL went through in '00, '01 and '02. They stayed in bankruptcy until they wiped away the debt necessary to survive and until they could get exit financing that would ensure UAL would be a going concern, NOT go BACK into Chapter 11 like USAirways when fuel prices jumped. I'm not going to slam Tilton, because he's done a better job than his predecessors AND was the only one willing to lead UAL when times were tough.

ironbird

Hey 757200ER , I agree with you to an extent. He has done way much better than SOME of the guys before him, and when nobody would he took the hot seat, got to give him credit for all that. But VELOCIPEDE also made a good point in how these things work, it's all about BUSINESS, and the bottom line numbers. Dont rule out the possibility that this guy could be setting up the airline for someone else to takeover and at the same time bail on a mighty big parachute.He signed an extension yes but we don't know that there is not a little something in there that says he can bail when he chooses to. I heard it's either a merger with CAL or DAL buyout. Let's see how this goes down.

big up

757Driver

That being said, who would you prefer run the surviving airline, CAL or UAL management?

B757200ER

I'd take the absolute BEST managers from each company, regardless of which side they were on previously. There is a veritable wasteland of talented,proven, former airline execs out there that have promptly been discarded by acquiring carriers. There is front office talent at both CAL and UAL.

Hey, I got a question for you: Why is your avatar a B-767-400, but your username 757Driver?

fireman0174

Using that criteria, it would be all CAL managers.

757Driver

Because over here at CAL, we are rated to fly the 757-200, 757-300, 767-200 and the 767-400 all within the same base.

I agree with taking only the best but I'd be willing to bet only one side will remain.

reCALcitrant

Don't forget we fly International and Domestic in the same fleet.
Fairly unusual as I talk to my bros at other carriers.

CVG767A

How is flying the -400 as compared to the others? At DL it's a seperate category, since the cockpits are so different. We are (or were?) considering combining the 767-400 and the 777 categories, since those cockpits are so similar. I don't know the status of that project, though.

Daytripper

And don't rule out someone coming from the outside........maybe Bethune? He'd have a blank check from the financial community....to do what ever. But, I wouldn't get too excited if he showed up. The comments he has made before concerning a CAL and UAL link-up would put a lot of folks on the street.