gloopy

Valid points. To a point. But it doesn't have to be all or nothing. With the discussion in question, the airline could be dividied up nicely with many other airlines getting something of value. Some want the terminal and maybe a few slots, others just want the slots and maybe some gate space as part of a cross terminal trade, while someone else wants the some of the AC and others want some of the options. A 3 or 4 way carve up makes a lot of sense for an entity that is ripe for merger mania one way or another.

Moby Dick

That's why the only candidate would be Alaska. Same fleet and ETOPS/Hawaii to boot.

shoelu

I agree with your assessment in general. However I don't see SWA doing a deal in that manner. It would require a level of cooperation with competitors that I have not witnessed since I have worked here. SWA in general does not tend to "work well and play well with others." They are normally inclined to do things in their own way (sometimes to their own detriment). The deal that you hypothesize would require a high level of cooperation between a lot of "chiefs" involved to make it work efficiently. It would certainly be a departure from how SWA has chosen to do business in the past.

gloopy

True, but necessity is the mother of invention, and its wise to never underestimate just how crafty SWA can be. They need something much bigger in NYC than they have, and looking at the puzzle I see few, if any, pieces big enough to do that other than all or large parts of JB.

DL would love T5 to link up to T4. That would free up T2. SWA needs gates and slots and could slide in nicely to T2. DL could trade for T8 with AA as well though. Lots of possibilities make sense. DL could get some of the slots with the rest going to SWA and AA and maybe a bone to UA. AA gets the planes to do a faster fleet refresh and a few nuggets (A HND slot here, a Latin America slot there) are exchanged for players to be named later, etc. to grease the skids and mount a massive nearly unaimous front to the DOJ that not even schumer could derail, even if he was lobbied do so, which he probably wouldn't be because JB execs would probably be in on it from day one and lets be honest, no one lobbies like SWA lobbies.

Either way though, SWA will need to make a major play for NYC eventually and time is not on their side and ISP ain't cutting it.

Clear Right

Hey Gloopy, what about the 5 year captains at CAL? Do they get to keep their captain seat, because the overall CAL pilot group is older?

WHACKMASTER

Why are you still amazed, T? You're right..........you shouldn't be.

WHACKMASTER

[QUOTE=shoelu;1359937]SWA in general does not tend to "work well and play well with others."QUOTE]

So we've noticed

Flyby1206

Interesting article today from Motley Fool claiming that a SWA/JB merger (or any other top 4 carrier + JB) wouldnt pass regulatory approval, which I find hard to believe.

What the Merger Means for the 5th Largest US Airline - JBLU, LCC - Foolish Blogging Network

shoelu

I have decided that the "Motley Fool" truly is a fool.

Flyby1206

I am leaning that way as well. I cant think of any regulatory reasons why SWA/JB wouldnt work, but what do I know since I am a stoopid pylut.