AMR to sell Eagle
 

THis will generate some debate.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/071128/law084.html?.v=101

AMR has been saying this on and off for what now... the last 6 years? It has always been an "option" IF they need to do it and if they get what they want for it. 2 big IF's.

So nothing has changed.

What is so appealing about major airlines spinning off their regionals (CAL & XJT, DAL & CMR, AA & Eagle, NWA & Mesaba/Compass...). Do they really need the cash that badly?? Why else do they want to do this?

So they can make the whipsaw on eagle that much easier :-(

Nothing huh? Please provide a link to when AMR said "we are going to divest Eagle" in the past. THere may have been rumors, but this is fact. Sure it may fall through, but their intentions are now known.

My opinion and hope was to get great/good/better management at Eagle and try to make each route profitable on its own without relying on the connecting pax. Kind of like how Horizon Air is run with Alaska.
The figures I always hear are AA pays 1/2 Million a day to have Eagle feed AA.

The reality is there is no such thing as "great/good/better mangement" available except at SWA.

I think it is official
 

Just saw it on MSNBC hurry and buy AMR Stock

You can do the search yourself. There have been plenty of news articles written where managment has been quoted along the lines of "we are considering spinning off Eagle in the near future". Infact if you search these forums, you can find threads on this same topic from published news articles, not hear-say or rumors.

Oh, ok...."considering". Got it.

It seems pretty offical to me. Should be interesting. Now the big question is who would want to buy Eagle? hehe

Whew, I am really glad I didn't go there now. Without AMR, I am not sure how well Eagle will fare.

Eagle is suffering from massive attrition at the FO level and major understaffing. No one wants to go there due to the non-existant upgrade. I feel that the severe understaffing has driven AMR to get rid of Eagle. Everything they have tried to do to get candidates has failed. So now they see Eagle as a financial liability and want to sell it.

I have a feeling that you will start to see Captain attrition now. These guys that are staying there keeping the upgrade high will get scared and leave. Whoever buys Eagle might not be so understanding when they solve the upgrade problem and high Captian labor costs with furloughs. Lets hope Mesa doesnt get Eagle. I am sure J.O. would love to do something like that.

Sure is sad to see it end this way.

I thought I was pretty smart on this stuff, but I guess not.

The yahoo article said that Executive Airlines, Inc. runs the Miami/San Juan operations. So Executive Airlines flys the ATR's, not Eagle?

Thanks

You are right though, management sounds certain about their intentions more so in this article than the previous articles... which means it could happen closer to the near future than when they said it 5 years ago. Just like the AE flowthrough to AA, there is plenty of talk, but everyone pulling the trigger together is unlikely.

They are managed by the same people, but they are on a different operating certificate than American Eagle.

One more thing to add: Another possibility is whoever buys Eagle could end up liquidating it, just like Gordon Gecko.

Dont post this, you might give JO at MEsa some bad ideas!

Oooo or maybe they will take the airplanes and let them sit around for a few years on a giant rust aging research project?!?!

Why are you making up ridiculous unlikely possibilites when you dont work here? You even stated you are glad you dont work at Eagle. Stop bashing... there are people who are gullible enough to think your nonsense is realistic.

Look at the history of Eagle and about 5 (or six) regional affiliates comprised "American Eagle" until the early 90's. I believe that Exec. was the only remaining regional affiliate that wasn't brought into the AMR fold.

This announcement seems to imply that AMR is seeking the arrangement they had prior to the early 90's Eagle merger (sorry I was never there so the details are fuzzy). The airlines were: Simmons, Wings West, Corporate, Executive, and one or two others I don't remember.

What I do recall was whipsawing of pilot groups was the norm. Now with a common fragmentation policy in effect there is the chance to minimize that effect.

Hsld..... Bix Ex

I know of a certain Regional that probably would jump at the chance

Don't forget Metro Airlines in DFW. :)

Great feedback from the authority!

I will continue to speculate with Executive Airlines. If AMR spins off AE, and AE looks at the books and doesn't want to update the turboprops in MIA/SJU, will AE then sell off Executive?

All this speculation for those that may be considering MIA/SJU for a base and may want to reconsider.

My gratitude for the feedback, and this site!

V/R,
Apollo

Does it start with a Sky and end with a West?

So what does this mean for the American Connection carriers that are basically leasing airplanes for their operations like TSA and RAH (CHQ)? Weren't they leasing them from Eagle or, perhaps more correctly, AMR? And for their contracts, which I thought were up for renewal in 2011?

I'm not sure anyone wants to buy Eagle outright, so I think a spinoff and IPO is more likely. Think ExpressJet's separation from Continental.

this would also explain why management didnt want to continue the flowthrough TA in 2008. I am supposed to interview with them on monday.... I guess I have some questions now for them

Let's just hope JO doesn't decide to go on a spending spree...

with what? Mesa is about to lose whats left of their cash.

I have a very credible source from Southern Utah that Skywest is looking very seriously at buying Eagle.

Look for the announcement in mid '08.

This will probably just allow eagle to grow. More outsourcing to crappy regional jobs and less better jobs at the majors.

Is his (or her) office on South River Road?

Sure is. Just across the street from Lowe's.

Always in the past they have stated that the potential sale was "an option". Today they are saying they are going to do it.

American Eagle has existed now for twenty years and has never had "great/good/better" management. It has been a stepchild of American from the beginning, and a place of exile for mediocre to downright execrable management throughout its history.

You're right. The excellent management people are at other carriers or in other industries.

Executive has always functioned as a quasi-separate entity.

Less better, indeed. This would be a way for a regional with cash to become a mega-regional without cash. So look around and identify the regional with the most cash to squander--the one most likely to want to become ridiculously large in sheer volume of capacity--and then bet on that regional to be a player in an acquisition.

The more likely scenario is a spin-off through an IPO, whereby AMR would simply receive a boatload of cash from the sale of stock, AE becomes its own public company entity, and other than that, nothing much changes.

Not much likelihood of that. They are now seriously cash strapped, and had to recently post a $90 million supercedes bond in conjunction with an $80 million judgement obtained by Hawaiian Air.

This is my thought exactly, and it is the route that makes the most sense to me. Look at this portion of jsled's original article post and it points right to the idea of an independent comapny with AA getting reduced rate feed.

"said AMR Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey. "We have worked hard over the years to build a regional airline that is fully capable of standing on its own and is well positioned to pursue growth opportunities outside of the AMR corporate structure."

Arpey noted that, in addition to AMR having put in place an independent American Eagle management structure, with a chief executive officer and chief financial officer, American Eagle also has a well-formed operational structure and organization and has produced independently audited financial results for the past several years. Earlier this year, American and American Eagle entered into a new regional flying agreement between the airlines that reflects market-based rates, which ensures that American continues to have access to quality feed on competitive terms. Arpey added that AMR's divestiture of American Eagle and the regional airline's ability to provide quality feed at competitive rates to other carriers, as well as American, will better position American Eagle to compete for new customers and growth opportunities in the future."

This will allow for Eagle to grow, which at the present time it cannot seem to do without permission from the mainline. May not be a bad thing for the pilot group either because with expansion comes upward movement. I may be way off base...after all, I'm not an airline guy.