i smell more like it
not looking good for American Airlines
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/21/us-amr-shares-idUSTRE79K5QV20111021?feedType=RSS&feedName=globalMarketsNews&rpc=43
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-21/amr-declines-after-morningstar-analyst-sees-bankruptcy-in-future.html?cmpid=yhoo
http://blog.chron.com/lorensteffy/2011/10/amr-usairways-the-next-airline-merger/
AMR-USAirways: The next airline merger?
Despite the struggles of United and Continental Airlines to complete their merger, other airlines can’t seem to resist the urge to merge. The United deal and the combination of Delta and Northwest has caused the lonely American Airlines to go from the biggest to third-biggest U.S. carrier.
On a conference call today, Tom Horton, the president of American’s parent company, hinted that American could be looking for a dance partner, according to SkyTalk’s Andrea Ahles.
In response to a question by TheStreet.com’s Ted Reed, Horton said that he believes there could be “further consolidation” in the U.S. airline industry.
“Does that include you?” Reed asked.
“Yeah, it could,” Horton said.
And just who might American be eying as a merger partner? Well, there aren’t that many candidates left. USAirways chief executive Doug Parker deflected the issue of a merger when it came up during an interview with a TV reporter earlier this week. Parker said the carrier remains a “happy stand alone airline.”
Oxymorons aside, US Air now finds itself in the basement of domestic carriers and if it hopes to compete it may need to get bigger. At the same time, the airline is still working out labor issues from its merger with America West six years ago. It’s not clear if American would want to absorb those problems just in hopes to getting bigger.
A merger like that might make the United-Continental combination look like a cake walk.
"American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AMR) fell 6.6 percent, the fourth decline in six trading sessions, after a Morningstar analyst said he concluded that the company “will succumb to bankruptcy.”
The shares dropped to $2.69 at 4:15 p.m. in New York, capping a day in which they rose as much as 2.4 percent and fell as far 10 percent. Labor costs put Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR at a disadvantage to peers, and the carrier’s “viability is in jeopardy,” Morningstar’s Basili Alukos said in a report today. "
please don't kill the messenger