Yep. But unless it works in their favor, the TWA people will never accept it as fair because they're in permanent denial about how grim the situation really was in January 2001.
People forget that there was a $100M debt payment due on January 15, 2001, and TW didn't have the cash to make the payment.
They'd already mortgaged everything of any value by 4Q00, and there wasn't anything left with which to secure anymore bank financing. What few investors weren't scared off by Karibu were scared off by the fact TWA was paying above-market rates for most of the MD80, B717 and 757's they'd leased after exiting their second bankruptcy.
While Karibu was definitely Icahn's doing, you can't blame him for Gitner's decision to refleet, which probably had just as much (if not more) impact on TWA's negative cashflow in 2000. Their loss thru Sept 30, 2000 was about $125M, and that was at a time when every other airline was operating well in the black (thanks to the tech bubble).
Absent AA stepping into the mix, there was a very strong possibility that all of the TWA employees would have been on unemployment by February 2001.
Those are verifiable facts, folks.
The other verifiable fact:
10.2 Union Matters. All offers of employment made by Purchaser in accordance with Section 10.1(i) above and all benefits to be provided pursuant to Section 10.1(iii) above will be conditioned on acceptance by all such employees of Purchaser's work rules then in effect and in effect after the Closing Date from time to time that are generally applicable to similarly situated employees of Purchaser.
Purchaser and Sellers agree to encourage their respective unions to negotiate in good faith to resolve fair and equitable seniority integration. Prior to Closing, TWA shall amend all existing Collective Bargaining Agreements relating to any present or former employee of TWA to provide that (i) scope, successorship, and benefits provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreements are not applicable to or being assumed by Purchaser as part of or as the result of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement, and (ii) consummation of the transactions contemplated by this Article X will not violate or breach in any manner any provision of any Collective Bargaining Agreement (collectively, the "CBA Amendments").
That's directly out of TW's bankruptcy filing and out of their filings with the SEC. Forget about Carty's blithering and happy-speak. This is the legal agreement between the two companies, and nowhere does it define what fair is, or what management promised. It simply says that it will be left to the unions to resolve.
Blaming AA or TW management for this is pointless, although if you must place blame at management's feet, start looking at Gitner and Compton, because they're the ones who launched the fleet renewal.
