I know there has been rumors of Ual and JB, but I have heard from a good source that Alaska and Jb may be possibly talking and have been for some time now... It seems to me that Alaska really wants become alot closer in the Big 3's rear view mirror. First Virgin and then a JB merger would make Alaska a 7,000 pilot airline! Discuss....

It makes the most sense. Question is who’s management takes over. And I want nothing to do with Alaska’s lack of scope.

Wow first post.

Easy staple all the ALK guys below JetBlue after they take out the VA guys from the list and staple them to the very bottom. (Right shyguy)

But who knows these days god knows our management isn’t leading.

Yes


I'd like a B6/AS merger, it would also be fairly easy to pass DOJ Antitrust compared to other airline options.

Staple ‘em!! Fence off the 321!! ;-)

Project Barbell Part II

I see what you did there. No money in the middle of the country anyway.

I am genuinely torn on whether a domestic network could thrive without a mid-america hub. Something like the A220 will definitely bring better CASM and open up smaller midwest cities, but how will a passenger get from Spokane to Jacksonville efficiently? GEG-SEA-FLL-JAX? Ick.

Without a mid-america hub would the B6/AS networks just be operating independently of each other? What "synergies" (gag me) would there be? Maybe you're right that we don't need any midwest presence because there is no money to be made.

Oh dude, I was being sarcastic. You absolutely need a mid-continent hub to maximize both independent networks.

Even if you had SEA-JAX, a flight from IDA or HLN to Jax would be very unpleasant. And a million other itineraries.

Yes, the airline doesn't have to serve all of them, but if it really wants to compete with the big 4 for Corp contracts it will need to serve a lot of them.

Existing B6 + AK would add a lot more itineraries, but not enough and they wouldn't all be very attractive.

Mid-america hub? Why?

How much originating traffic comes from a mid-america hub? If we are talking a global airline perhaps but how much travel and connections ACTUALLY come from the middle of the country? Without digging into traffic reports it doesn’t make a ton of financial sense. The census bureau statistics indicate future population growth comes from South America focusing on that direction seems more logical.
If you look at ORD or IAH the land was cheap and terminals were built therefore feeding traffic through there to get else where but not because those cities population centers travelled. Just an opinion.