Fair enough. You've been in this industry a long time. Let's get real for a minute:
1. Forget the smoke and mirrors powerpoint, tell me how these synergies will be realized with 900+ airplanes, over 20 different aircraft and engine types, massive hubs that are less than 300 miles away, etc. without some serious pain for labor at both carriers?
2. Delta has completed most of the renegotiations on it's a/c leases, has all of it's labor contracts in order, already dumped the pilot pension, with a freeze on the others. $710 million is what Parker says will come from "cost" synergies...basically canceling leases on aircraft and terminating operating contracts. How will all of this be possible without trimming more jobs?
The network "synergies" ($935 million) that Parker talks about in the Power point are laughable! (By the way, Delta by itself, is already #1 across the Atlantic and #3, soon to be #2 to Latin/South America and the Caribbean).
I think most Delta employees are like me....they would rather stay independent, but could be open to some sort of merger That Makes Sense!
Moreover (just for you USA320Pilot), we would hope that our partner brings something more to the table than USAirways would bring (Asia routes, for example).
USAirways has seen a great turnaround in the last 12 months and there are merger partners out there that would make sense....preserving jobs for your company. Maybe even creating jobs for the thousands of USAirways employees who are still on the street!
Despite what Parker tells the crowd, this merger combination will accomplish none of this. It would be a disaster for all of us!
Abe
