!!!! CHALLENGE TO ANY FORMER AWA TO ANSWER THIS POST !!!!
It doesn't sound like an AWA "stand-alone" business model carried any less risk than US Airways.
Question to AWA PILOTS: What would be the chances of AWA getting financing in Bankruptcy as a "stand-alone" for their "business model" if the merger HADN'T gone through?
Here is what Doug said. You don't believe him, I know.
Doug Parker Charlotte F/A Crew news 09/2011 stated: "We have filmed it. People can watch it, but that's what happened."
"USAir ‑‑ America West was not in dramatically better shape. While we weren't on the verge of, you know, going away liquidating, as I have said a number of times, I believe without a merger ‑‑ well, let me tell you. By putting the two companies together, a lot of new money came in is the answer to your question.
America West did not have the money to go fund the merger or anything close to it. And, indeed, I think America West standalone ‑‑ this is ‑‑ this gets some America West people upset because, you know, they ‑‑ anyway, whatever reason.
But my view is, and a highly educated view on this point, is that America West would have been bankrupt by the end of 2005.
If you recall, by the end of 2005, Delta and Northwest both filed, and I don't think America West could have ‑‑ I'm pretty sure ‑‑ I'm actually, virtually certain that America West would have filed bankruptcy because we didn't have enough cash to make it through the winter in that environment.
So ‑‑ and then more importantly, as it relates to America West, the reason the merger was so important to America West is America West was an airline that lived off a cost structure advantage.
Much like I describe to US Airways employees now, how we don't have the same revenue generating capabilities as American, Delta, and United, who are bigger than us. America West had that in spades.
A Phoenix hub never had the ability to generate the kind of revenues US Airways did, for example. But the airline survived 25 years by having much lower costs, and those lower costs almost entirely labor based.
So what had happened is, is you, you know, looking around the world, here at US Airways, for example, had gotten its labor costs through two bankruptcies and a lot of pain down to matching America West.
That did not look like a good formula for the America West ‑‑ for America West Airlines. You have an airline now that has, not the same ability to generate revenues, and the same costs as the guys who can generate a lot more revenues than you. Those airlines go away.
So whether or not America West would have filed, you know, in late 2005, like I believe, that airline, I'm certain, wouldn't have been able to stand alone on its own in today's environment. You know, much like Frontier, was very ‑‑ it's very similar I think to America West.
You know, small West Coast, whole ‑‑ entirely labor‑cost‑based cost advantage. And, you know, Frontier went bankrupt. They are still floating around somewhere, but, you know, they are a fifth of the size they used to be. And I think that's the best I think America West could have done on its own.
So the merger helped both of us, and in a huge way. I don't think America West would have made it on its own. I'm certain US Airways wouldn't have. And with the merger, what we were able to do ‑‑ you know, which, again, I ‑‑ I think we should all feel good about ‑‑ we were able to go convince people that, while these two airlines on their own are having trouble, we can put them together and build a real airline, and all we need is cash.
And so will you, Mr. Investor, invest in this?
Now, we found some people who wanted to do that because they didn't want us to go away, like GE, who had a lot of airplanes leased to us, and Airbus, who had a lot of airplanes on order to both companies. So they put in monies because they didn't want to see us go away.
But we found some other, you know, just true equity investors, you know, stockholders that said, yeah, that looks like something that will work. I'll invest in that.
So the money that came to fund the merger didn't exist, and neither airline could have raised it on their own. It only came from the power of the merger.
So the merger saved both of us. So if anybody tells you, We saved you, vice versa, they are wrong. We saved each other. And we saved each other by merging the two companies and building a stronger airline.
And, again, I haven't had to say this in a few years, but I have said it a lot. And the story has been entirely consistent. So it's a little frustrating to me to have to keep saying it because I, like you, get tired of hearing this stuff.
It's just absolutely.
SPEAKER: That's exactly what it was.
MR. PARKER: It's just absolutely inaccurate.
So, anyway, hopefully this will help. We have filmed it. People can watch it, but that's what happened.
