That may, or may not, be true. We can never know, since history took a different course. However, we were told by Lakefield in January, 2005 that there was no money out there for USAirways. Yet the ATSB didn't pull the plug on USAirways on January 15, 2005, like many people (inlcuding me) expected. On January 16, when I woke up and realized I still had a job, I knew that something was transpiring. Within a week or two, the holding company for Air Wisconsin came up with some money, and then another holding company (Frontier???) came up with a few dollars more. It was not sufficient to exit bankruptcy, but it was a start and a definite indication that money was indeed "out there" for USAirways. After those initial offers of money, there was an almost total blackout of news on the subject until the AWA announcement in May.
Reading between the lines, obviously Lakefield was doing some heavy negotiating with his money people (it was Lakefield's money people, not Parker's) and with Parker to run the combined show. Lakefield had said repeatedly to anyone who would listen that he hated running an airline, it was not his thing, and would rather be anywhere else. Had (God forbid) Dave Siegel or Wolf still been at the helm, I doubt Parker would have made the cut. (Not that I think Siegel or Wolf were better than Parker. Siegel was a disaster, and Wolf was not much better. It's just that Lakefield's money people might have kept whatever ego-bloated CEO was running USAirways rather than Parker.) AWA's contribution to the entire enterprise was Parker, a reasonably competent airline boss (with a staff in place) to relieve Lakefield from his misery....nothing more. Parker was Lakefield's way out of day-to-day management of the airline. AWA itself had not a pot to piss in (per Doug Parker), so any view that AWA "bought" USAirways is delusional nonsense. Lakefield's money people bought both airlines and combined them. Period. And Parker would be the first to agree with that sentiment.