Originally Posted by
jcamp028
would US/AA alliance go to star alliance? My thinking is no- it would create too many problems having two uber-giant american airline companies in one alliance. Plus, oneworld would fall apart without AA.
There's no way in hell that DOJ and FTC in the States would allow that to happen.
Living in the States was weird, having regulators who believed in enforcing meaningful competition between parties instead of protecting incumbent de facto monopolies. DOT is especially aggressive in recent years. By comparison, the Competition Bureau here is feckless and toothless.
Actually, by any standard, the Competition Bureau is feckless and toothless.
Originally Posted by
CloudsBelow
This is a no-brainer IMO . . . Parker will do everything he can to get this tie-up. I really see it happening and the "new" AA being very formidable. Hubs in DFW, MIA, PHL with strong presence in NYC, LAX and ORD.
Time will tell . . . Don't think we'll have to wait long . . .
This would be crazy.
They would, at least for a long time, have hubs at MIA, CLT, PHL and JFK, with a focus operation at LGA, DCA and at BOS. So, that's what... every major metro along the East Coast? Getting that through antitrust wouldn't be easy, and why would they want to?
US operations at LGA and DCA are already basically on top of the PHL operation. US has a dedicated terminal at LGA and AA has (a brand new) one at JFK: so, which one are they going to give up? Or are they going to operate two NYC bases only 60-90 min by train or car from their PHL hub?
International traffic would be all over the place. Currently, AA routes it through JFK and MIA and US through CLT and PHL. That traffic is going to be split four ways in a combined airline, fragmenting it and making none of the routes profitable.
Basically, no airline needs that much coverage on the East Coast, except maybe B6, which is a very different animal.
Out West, PHX is in the perfect location though: it's in the ideal location to interfere with AA operations at both LAX and DFW.
They'd acquire a great deal of leases and airport slots that would be duplications or unnecessary–they'd be overpaying by buying things they don't want, don't need and can't keep. And their fleets are incompatible, so there'd be no synergies there: US is primarily an Airbus shop while AA is all-Boeing until their A320s are delivered.
Oh God, labour: US has been unable for years to reconcile the work rules between HP and legacy US pilots; they'd now have to integrate bitter MQ and AA pilots.
Now, just because this is absolutely crazy doesn't mean it won't happen. I can definitely see Parker trying to go through with this, which would only confirm what I already suspect: US is managed by idiots.