Merger with LCC in the spring

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

OOOPS, ..sorry COSMO.
I missed your earlier posts.

Happy Holidays, by the way

 

[LGA Fleet Service]

I think speculation about UA leaving Star is just that,speculation.United is one of the founding members of Star they aren't going anywhere.

Usairways would screw up the well regarded jetblue passenger experience in no time.Can't you just see Parker or one of the other drones in Tempe putting out a statment that "In the name of consistency across the Airbus and E190 fleets we've decided to remove the inflight television units from all former jetblue aircraft".

 

[RowUnderDCA]

c'mon.... LH investing in B6 is dissing LCC, not UA... or it's neutral.

 

[zethya]

IMHO, there is virtually no chance that UA will merge with US -- nada, zip, zilch........ But in the highly unlikely event of a UA/US merger, CLT would almost certainly be the only surviving former US hub in the post-merger UA system. PHL would close in favor of an expanded IAD -- who needs PHL's problems, including the "Philly Factor", when you have IAD's higher yields, more runways and better ATC environment......

And if I were a US employee, I'm not so sure that I would be looking forward to a UA/US merger. If UA jettisons most of the US flying that does not involve CLT, the shuttle, Europe or the Caribbean, UA won't need the excess planes, ground facilities or employees either. So if you work for US, be very careful what you wish for in terms of airline consolidation -- IMHO, with a UA/US merger, there's a very good chance you won't like the result.

Here are the FACTS:
1. IAD does Not have more runways than PHL.
2. IAD's Annual Domestic O&D is almost 8 Million LESS than PHL.
3. IAD's International O&D is only 1M more than PHL AND is shared by approximately 17 international (Europe/Asia) carriers. PHL's Internaional O&D is shared by 3 international (Europe/Asia) carriers.
4. Total Passengers (Current 12 Month Period): IAD = 18.2M, PHL = 27.7M
5. PHL's International facilities (Terminal "A") are far superior to IAD's. If you don't know that, you've never used both.
Now, why would a money hungry airline choose IAD again? Please don't fall back on ATC delays (at PHL) - it's in the noise, is the "cost of doing business" in the NE and EWR and JFK are typically more delay proned that PHL (DOT).

And how would you propose that UA divest itself from the firm contractual order with Airbus for 332s, 350s and possibly 340s?

Further, you ignore the very good possiblity that it would be US buying UA - not the other way round.

 

[FA Mikey]

Further, you ignore the very good possiblity that it would be US buying UA - not the other way round.

 

[LGA Fleet Service]

Further, you ignore the very good possiblity that it would be US buying UA - not the other way round.

Funniest thing I've read on the internet today! Thanks for the laugh!

 

[brokenwrench]

Further, you ignore the very good possiblity that it would be US buying UA - not the other way round.

UAL Market Cap: 4.09B
LCC Market Cap: 1.42B

UAL is not in BK, the window when US could "buy out" an airline bigger then it closed when this or any of the other airlines left BK.

Forget the small details that the credit market finally realized that loading up an airline with debt is a bad idea. Make no mistake debt is how LCC would have to fund a UAL buyout just as it was the way it was with its DL bid.

 

[CynicalResAgent]

Eastern, United and TWA all had large operations in PHL, TWA even had a maintenance hangar there.

PHL only has LH and BA for competition to LHR and FRA, there is no direct competition on the other routes.

PHL's O&D numbers for international are high and very profitable, why do you think PHL is the focus on international growth for US.

Did one of the two incarnations of Midway try a hub in PHL too? I'm thinking in 1990 or around that time? I thought I remembered them having flights to Canada.

 

[gar]

It will happen soon.

Ok Phaser, do you have any other info. to back up the rumor. I also see on NW's website that we (US Airways) will be merging with them in early '08.

 

[700UW]

The original Midway tried the PHL hub when Eastern sold it off to them and ML failed in PHL.

 

[400 hertz]

It will happen soon.

DUDE the only thing solid is that you drink to much Rolling rock beer . At least give us one good reason why anyone would even attempt such a disaster !!!! The revenue is coming from overseas not domestic cities .

 

[Rubble]

LCC was interested in merging w/ DAL and that failed. Animals don't stop hunting even thought they failed- they're still hungry.
Delta is not interested in merging but they maybe interested in a buying Pacific routes.
Tilton is simply interested in filling his pockets one more time. The only factor for him is: How can I do that and get out?
The only synergies that matter are the one regarding anti-trust issues. The business models themselves, are far as sustaining entities, are irrelevant.
Why would anyone want to go through the merger process with the battered unionized employees of United? Just look at the USA/AWE mess- and thats "small potatoes" compared to United.
The most likely scenario is to sell off United in parts. The first process has already started. Selling the F.F. program and the SFO MX base. In a year or two the AMFA union would become "hero's" for going along with it as opposed to everyone being on the street.
Next is to sell real estate with say a 5 yr. lease. Then the mega deal that goes something like this:

Delta goes it alone and buys United's Pacific routes, or course that includes some aircraft too.
The lucrative Atlantic slots get sold to the highest bidder, including the aircraft- this is more of a disposal move than anything else as the 787 is coming on-line.
U.S. Airways drops the Star Alliance and merges with NWA- remember, they're still hungry and they have almost no INTL ops. Sorry Detroit- you go bye bye.
Jetblue buys many of United's A320's and becomes the major Star Alliance airline for the U.S. Yes, they will need financing but they will get it. This deal is too good for the Star Alliance carriers to pass on as they get all the INTL traffic to the U.S. They would increase their flights out of SFO, PDX, ORD and IAD. Why PDX? Lufthansa.
AAL moves into Terminal 1 at ORD. Frontier survives as they become the major player in DEN. Growth opportunities expand in San Francisco and everyone has a piece a is the case in LAX.
I'll let you fill in the rest.

 

[Fly]

Sad. You had no one to open presents with this morning, so this is what you came up with? Nice try.

 

[Dave]

I'll let you fill in the rest.

I think you missed your calling. You should have been a fiction writer.

 

[Rubble]

No, some people actually work. That includes the midnight shift on Christmas. You should be so lucky. I had a few minutes on a break saw this thread where everyone automatically expects that United will always exist.

Expect the news soon, its always a bah-hum-bug Christmas in the the airline industry.