Pretty confident about most of this:
GK, playing his best William Seward, approached AS in a let’s make a deal for Alaska. AS board was lukewarm to the idea as the exchanges seemed to try and pull a Seward style distressed value deal. It is my understanding that LUV is still pressing but AS is still desperately trying to stay independent.

Jetblue has also expressed interest, going so far as to secure secret scope relief from its pilots, if a merger were to happen, in exchange for a no furlough clause and a slush fund, for a possible SLI with Alaska. This is a MEC NDA, it is not quite as credible as the SWA info, but I think it’s legit. This front is stone cold quiet, so I am guessing it is still very much in play.

Where are NWAA, Beanie baby, and AL....
AAL to furlough 2100 this fall and another 1900 in the spring if things don’t turn around. Likely bankruptcy by April of 2021😱. This rumor comes as the gold standard, I have such confidence in its origins that I would bet it every day in Vegas and twice on Sundays. I know, I know, AAL is getting “A lot of negative press about full flights in the news media, maybe you have heard about this.”

Remember these quotes... “AAL and Spirit are running new hire classes while we furlough.”
How do we like Alaska now?
Alaska MEC take your bow
No furloughs, 1100+- leaves, most should be awarded.👍

Lol at the reference. Are you saying SWA attempting to buy ALK and B6?

I think Southwest thinks now is the time to grab Alaska, JetBlue is looking at options, and Alaska is still dreaming of independence.

Interesting, wild times.

Alaska/Hawaiian combo buy. Buy 2 for the price of 1

Slow news day?

Although SWA is not utterly implausible.

The buses are actually a plus... an opportunity to try out a smallish sample on a live certificate for a while before they determine THEIR fleet plan. If they decide to revert to single-type, it's easy, simply phase them out on schedule. Lot easier than building your own fleet from scratch just for a test run. They can pivot either way.

For those not following, the max crisis had SWA actually reconsidering their single-fleet strategy. COVID aside, if the max grounding had occurred 5-7 years down the line it would have put SW into BK and possibly liquidation, too much of their fleet would have been max and therefore INOP (AS of course would be in the same boat in that scenario).

Boeing is behind Covid. Gotcha. 😎👌

I think everybody already knew that.

If any of this is credible (and that is a big if), then AS has few options if SWA decides to go hostile. It is very unlikely that there is a white knight out there who would top a cash offer with a significant change of control premium from SWA, and a stock swap with JB, irrespective of the exchange ratio, would probably not be a preferable alternative for AS shareholders.

Never a dull moment in aviation.

Cheers - Rob.

Do you guys only reference what is said on APC or do you actually read about what Gary Kelly has been saying for months now about the future of SWA?

A simple google search will clear up OTZ/MEA’s claims on a SWA buyout. What a joke.


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