BTW, rumors are flying again about AS and possible mergers, and we are one of them, as well as AA and even Delta was mentioned but the relationship between Delta and AS has gone south so bad as of late that pretty sure we will all see a disconnect between these two soon.
Here's more on international announcements;
a WN acquisition of AS would be the best thing that could happen for DL because it would result in the certain closure of SEA as a hub and the opening of more gates for DL.
SEA as a domestic hub makes no sense for anyone.
the only reason why AS uses SEA as a domestic hub is because they have nothing else and it was the only way to create lots of mass which AS has needed in order to grow.
WN would undoubtedly terminate most of AS' codewhore relationships which is another plus for DL.
next, WN would likely cancel dozens of routes because just like the legacies would do because WN's costs are too high relative to AS' to operate large chunks of WN's route system. given that WN has a very recent history of dismantling FL's route network based on WN's higher costs, the chances are pretty high that the argument can easily be made that WN would do the same thing to AS - to the detriment of many communities.
finally, given how much WN/AS would dominate many western US markets where the two are already #1 and 2 in many markets, there would likely be massive airport divestitures, SNA being a likely one.
go for a merger with AS, swamt. DL will be the biggest beneficiary.
the communities that AS serves and AS employees will be the biggest losers.