APA & USAPA joint UCC, AMR, & US Airways NDA Negotiations This Week

[USA320Pilot]

[background=rgb(239, 239, 239)]APA & USAPA Join UCC, AMR, & US Airways NDA Negotiations This Week[/background]

APA INFORMATION HOTLINE (APA Board to Join Merger Talks); December 10, 2012

This is APA Communications Director Gregg Overman with the APA Information Hotline for Monday, Dec. 10.

APA BOARD VOTES TO JOIN MERGER TALKS: The Unsecured Creditors’ Committee has invited APA to join in the ongoing non-disclosure arrangement between AMR and US Airways under which they have been developing a potential merger plan. In response, the APA Board of Directors voted 14-2 in favor this afternoon during a voting conference call to join the merger talks and to adhere to the applicable non-disclosure agreement.

We anticipate that the US Airline Pilots Association representing US Airways’ pilots will also join the potential merger development talks, with the first meetings beginning this week.

The APA Board of Directors will meet at APA headquarters beginning on Wednesday, Dec. 12 at 1 p.m. Central to receive briefings and give direction regarding APA’s role and objectives in the merger talks.

That's it for now. Thanks for checking this hotline.


USAPA President's Message: December 10, 2012

Fellow Pilots,

This afternoon, December 10th, your Officers, Board of Pilots Representatives (BPR) and Negotiating Advisory Committee (NAC) conducted a two-hour informational conference call regarding the potential merger of US Airways and AMR (American Airlines).

With the approval of the BPR, your union has entered into discussions about a potential merger with AMR, Allied Pilots Association (APA), the Unsecured Creditors Committee (UCC) and US Airways management. These discussions begin this week in Dallas. President Gary Hummel and Executive Vice President Steve Smyser will join the NAC, USAPA Professional Negotiator and USAPA General Counsel in these talks.

Because of the work your BPR has to do, the Regular Quarterly BPR Meeting will go on as planned. Vice President Steve Bradford will preside over this meeting. We will do our best to keep you informed as developments occur.

Respectfully,

Gary Hummel

 

[dariencc]

May I request a clarification? Is this thread for the express purpose of viewing updates on the joint negotiations by USA320Pilot, or are we allowed to comment?

Thank you.

 

[traderjake]

If the past is any indication you may only comment if you're a political enemy taking a jab at CM.

 

[signals]

I'm surprised that the title wasn't If I Were Tom Horton...

bet he puts it in the AA forums too

 

[Ames]

Ucrapa is about to find out just how insignificant they are.

 

[Phoenix]

May I request a clarification? Is this thread for the express purpose of viewing updates on the joint negotiations by USA320Pilot, or are we allowed to comment?

Thank you.

Ehem, to minimize clutter and ensure information purity and integrity is maximized, all future clarification requests should be sent via PM.

 

[USA320Pilot]

How do we interpret the involvement of the American Airlines and US Airways pilot unions?

http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/how-do-we-interpret-the-involvement-of-the-american-airlines-and-us-airways-pilot-unions.html/



American says it invited pilots union to get involved in merger talks

However, the union said it was the Unsecured Creditors Committee that had issued the invitation.

http://blogs.star-telegram.com/sky_talk/2012/12/american-says-it-invited-pilots-union-to-get-involved-in-merger-talks.html

 

[USA320Pilot]

USAPA BPR Meeting Update: December 11, 2012

VP Bradford briefed the BPR that he had spoken with President Hummel in Dallas, and that negotiations were to begin later at 3 PM (with UCC, AMR, US Airways, & APA). After polling the Board, it was determined that the Board would reconvene at 8:30 AM on December 12, most probably in Closed Session, for a briefing,

 

[prechilill]

Ucrapa is about to find out just how insignificant they are.

Yep... What did SCOTTsdale and Tge Usapians parrot on here so many times?? "tyranny of the majority" was it?? Lol. God this is going to be good!

 

[USA320Pilot]

US Airways OUR AFA update: December 11, 2012

US Airways/AA Merger

Reuters reported Friday that US Airways Group Inc. has made a formal proposal to purchase American Airlines. As reported in the press, the proposed deal, valued at about $8.5 billion, would give AMR creditors 70 percent of the combined company, would be run by US Airways CEO Doug Parker, and a merger agreement could be reached as soon as January. While there may yet be haggling over the details of the deal, this is a significant step in the expected merger process and gives credence to ongoing speculation that a merger will happen in the near term.

Doug Parker has been plain in his words and actions regarding the outcome of a merger with American. He has said that the merger would provide a larger and stronger route structure that can compete with mega carriers United and Delta. Parker learned from his previous failed merger attempts with United and Delta – and went about this merger attempt quite differently. He launched his efforts by first securing support of American employees – less worried about the cares of his own employees, smaller in number. This was Parker’s three step process:

Waited until American was in bankruptcy, which made it more financially viable to make an offer and forced American management to consider an offer from the smaller airline as part of the bankruptcy process.

Lined up support from American’s three largest unions, including the Flight Attendants, by offering them better terms than American’s management was trying to impose through the bankruptcy process. This means there will be no opposition from the employees, as there was in the Delta bid.

Finally, he believes that due to the previous mergers of Delta/Northwest and United/Continental, the Department of Justice will not fight a US Airways/AA merger on the grounds of anti-trust violations.

The final roadblock to a deal seems to be the approval of American’s board of directors, secured creditors committee and the bankruptcy court. By entering into a confidentiality agreement with American, Parker has gained access to American’s proprietary financial information and, presumably, has been able to fashion a proposal that can be supported by all three. All indications continue to be that this merger will occur and we believe that will be the case.

Yesterday, additional news broke after the American pilots ratified their bankruptcy agreement. The Allied Pilots Association (APA) Board voted to join merger talks and signaled that USAPA would join them. Later in the day, USAPA announced it had entered into discussions about a potential merger with AMR, Allied Pilots Association (APA), the Unsecured Creditors Committee (UCC) and US Airways management. Recognizing the benefits of pilots working together in the mergers of Delta and United, it seems APA and USAPA will attempt to work together up front to get the best possible deal for pilots in the merger.

While each of the large unions at American had publicly announced its support for the merger, and each has representatives on the UCC, the pilots are the first group to officially join the merger talks. This came about because the Unsecured Creditors’ Committee invited APA to join in the ongoing non-disclosure arrangement between AMR and US Airways under which they have been developing a potential merger plan. APA and USAPA will join merger talks in Dallas tomorrow, December 12.

News reports predict an official merger announcement just after the first of the year, although current events could signal an announcement sooner than that. One of the reasons industry analysts believe strongly this merger is inevitable is that there are no other moves to be made in the industry. Unlike the most recent failed deal with United where that management used the threat of a merger with US Airways to hasten its deal with Continental, this time there are no other players left. And, American is in bankruptcy which means its management has less control of the outcome and the regulatory considerations would likely be rubber stamp since the new American would virtually match size and market share for United and Delta.

 

[usa1]

So US Airways will be the surviving entity in this deal? Was hoping it would be American? Wanted to get my PBGC money rolling?

 

[FWAAA]

I was hoping for more than just cut and paste copies of content from other publicly-available websites. It's my fault - I set my expectations far too high.

 

[UPNAWAY]

[sup]Barrons has an article out today saying the odds of a merger going through are now 75%.[/sup]

 

[usa1]

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052748703496404578173711216362472.html?mod=BOL_da_is

 

[Phoenix]

Evidently its been above 70% for quite some time.