US Ups Delta Offer

IF this deal goes through, those that work or are based out of Charlotte will start to hear a giant sucking sound.

Maybe a small sucking sound (i.e. loss of transatlantic routes)...but, other than that, there are a few reasons that CLT won't go the way of PIT, IMHO.

1) Currently, US & DL move the vast majority of NE/SE traffic through these two hubs. That traffic won't go away and, logistically, ATL can't handle the growth.

2) Unlike PIT, CLT is about the cheapest hub to operate anywhere in the nation. It is a cost advantage for US - not a disadvantage.

3) US dominates CLT. The "new" Delta would dominate CLT and ATL - the only major connecting hubs in the southeast. This is a major advantage (and probably the biggest anti-trust argument against the merger). There is no reason to believe that Parker & Co. wouldn't recognize this and would simply give away this huge benefit.

If this merger goes through, I believe most of the CLT operation is safe.
 
Maybe a small sucking sound (i.e. loss of transatlantic routes)...but, other than that, there are a few reasons that CLT won't go the way of PIT, IMHO.

1) Currently, US & DL move the vast majority of NE/SE traffic through these two hubs. That traffic won't go away and, logistically, ATL can't handle the growth.

2) Unlike PIT, CLT is about the cheapest hub to operate anywhere in the nation. It is a cost advantage for US - not a disadvantage.

3) US dominates CLT. The "new" Delta would dominate CLT and ATL - the only major connecting hubs in the southeast. This is a major advantage (and probably the biggest anti-trust argument against the merger). There is no reason to believe that Parker & Co. wouldn't recognize this and would simply give away this huge benefit.

If this merger goes through, I believe most of the CLT operation is safe.
Folks...CLT and ATL are not the same town! Both can, and will retain Hub Status!
 
Hopefully, the NWA and DAL talks will yield fruit and this proposed nightmare will go away. I am sure the NWA folks will be much more understanding and willing to deal with the non-union Delta people.
 
WSJ: Northwest talking with Delta on deal
The Business Journal of Milwaukee - 3:03 PM CST Wednesday
Shares of Northwest Airlines Corp. rose nearly 10 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported that the airline has talked with Delta Air Lines about a possible merger.

The report, citing people familiar with the matter, said that executives at both airlines have met in recent weeks and that Delta creditors view a Northwest merger as an alternative to a hostile bid from US Airways Group.


Early Wednesday, US Airways announced a higher offer for Delta, boosting its purchase price by about $2 billion.

Both Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest (Pink Sheets: NWACQ) and Atlanta-based Delta (Pink Sheets: DALRQ) are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. A merger may occur after both airlines emerge from bankruptcy.

A spokesman at Northwest declined to comment to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Northwest is the second-busiest air carrier at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee.

Shares of Northwest were up 43 cents, to $5.03, in midafternoon trading.
 
Historical Timeline:
Bethune Meets with DL Creditors
Bethune Meets with DL Management
Bethune Meets with US Management

Any relationship between these events and this final one:

US Increases Bid

Now if I were an off-the-wall speculative type, I'd guess there was a pretty good chance that DL passed the "Right Number" (higher bid) to US.
 
ARG! Some people here can barely make their rent and car payments, everything is critically staffed all the freakin time and Tempe has 10.5 BILLION freakin dollars to spend on an airline that does not have complimentary fleet, complimentary unions, complimentary routes.....ARG! Some of us out west are mad as hell!
 
Maybe a small sucking sound (i.e. loss of transatlantic routes)...but, other than that, there are a few reasons that CLT won't go the way of PIT, IMHO.

1) Currently, US & DL move the vast majority of NE/SE traffic through these two hubs. That traffic won't go away and, logistically, ATL can't handle the growth.

2) Unlike PIT, CLT is about the cheapest hub to operate anywhere in the nation. It is a cost advantage for US - not a disadvantage.

3) US dominates CLT. The "new" Delta would dominate CLT and ATL - the only major connecting hubs in the southeast. This is a major advantage (and probably the biggest anti-trust argument against the merger). There is no reason to believe that Parker & Co. wouldn't recognize this and would simply give away this huge benefit.

If this merger goes through, I believe most of the CLT operation is safe.

And number 4: Why bust up the best "union city" that always votes in favor of all mgmt paycuts? :huh:
 
...Tempe has 10.5 BILLION freakin dollars to spend on an airline...


They don't have 10.5 BILLION freakin dollars, to spend. What they do have are two finanical insitutions willing to pony up all of this money to enrich themselves off of the proposed deal.

What is interesting to me is that Doug explained that the US/HP merger was needed by both companies and the employee's of both basically agreed. So the merger went through basically with the blessing the employee's before the question of senority was settled and now look what's going on.

IF the merger with DL goes through, the employee's of DL have been very vocal about not being acquired by the likes of US, so I am very interested in the storyline that would come from Tempe about everyone getting along.

I see so many shades of the Frank Lorenzo era coming through from Tempe that it's down right scary.
 
Delta Air Lines Issues Preliminary Statement Regarding US Airways Revised Proposal

ATLANTA, Jan. 10, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) (PRIMEZONE) -- Delta Air Lines today issued the following preliminary statement based on its initial assessment of the revised, unsolicited merger proposal from US Airways:

"Delta's Board of Directors will fulfill its fiduciary duty to review the revised unsolicited merger proposal announced today by US Airways. On its face, the revised proposal does not address significant concerns that have been raised about the initial US Airways proposal and, in fact, would increase the debt burden of the combined company by yet another $1 billion."