US Airways – American Airlines Merger – a small first step?
By no way does this mean that a merger is sure to happen, but the unions of bankrupt American Airlines have decided to support a potential merger with US Airways. US Airways’ CEO has been hinting on a possible merger for some time now. The unions are backing this because AA is in trouble. As it went into bankruptcy, they announced 13,000 job cuts! A merger with US Airways could be a path to safety for AA.
US Airways itself came to be in its current form thru a merger. The original US Airways was merged with America West, resulting in the current company, which is more America West than US Airways.
The US Airways – American Airlines merger could also make both airlines more competitive with the two mega-airlines that have been created in recent times thru mergers themselves – the current Delta, thru a merger between Delta and Northwest and of course, the current United, thru a merger between United and Continental.
My predictions (guesses):
- Merger will go thru
- The combined airline will be called American Airlines (the larger of the two, with a large international network)
- The combined airline will be a member of the OneWorld alliance (there is no other US based member of the alliance)
What do you think? Is a US Airways – American Airlines merger good for the two airlines? Is it good for us, the customers? Leave a comment…
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I hope it happens. Bigger is better. US has a pretty big route network to Europe. A merger may free up some of AA’s resources and bring enough new customers for AA to finally build up a better route network to Asia, Oceania, and Africa.
I’m with you here. Many people are concerned about reduction in options to fly. I like, large, competitive airlines with good international networks. Also, I have miles in both US and AA. I would love to combine them
It will never happen! US is already dealing with there current merger. Change is great, untill it pours over the sides!
I would give the merger a 50/50 chance. American is my favorite airline but it has been getting worse lately. US Air on the other hand has been a bad airline but appears to be getting better.
I think the new network would give me more options to use my miles but I hope the lack of competition does not mean the major Airlines fail to cut costs and this in turn drives up prices.