Originally Posted by
skunker
The airline industry is turning into a high school rumor mill with all this discussion of hookups and breakups. The other rumors from this year alone include:
BA and QF merging
BA and IB merging (at the same time as QF merger rumors)
QF and MH merging
S7 buying MA
LH hooking up with any airline with self-esteem issues.
Hmmm... I strongly encourage you to look up the definition of the word "rumor." I hardly think that publicly acknowledged merger discussions, by the companies involved, equate to a "rumor." The word rumor essentially implies no credible source or possibly even an untruth.
In the first two examples alone that you gave, both were publicly announced talks, by both parties involved. They were not kept secret.
Here are just the first articles that I found on each one:
"BA, Qantas merger talks collapse"
http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/18/news...ntas/index.htm
"British Airways and Iberia announce merger plans"
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/bu....14867688.html
The fact that neither of those two mergers was/has been consummated, doesn't mean that the
attempt to consummate them was a "rumor."
Regards