Originally Posted by star_world

I firmly believe, based on extensive experience of large mergers, that we are only starting to reach the end of the highly disruptive transition phase. Business as usual, or anything close to it, hasn't even arrived yet. That's what makes some of these "lamenting" style posts - "Oh what could have been" appear to be somewhere between humourous and naive.

With a transformation project of this scale, you have at least 6 months where you are operating in a "keep the lights on" mode. You have to get all of the basics correct so the company can work together as a whole, address any major issues that prevent you from doing business, and then you can focus on the medium- and long-term strategy. Advertising, branding, new customer acquisition plans, etc. - these are not critical to getting through the first months of a merger.

I have no love for the management or the business itself, so I'm posting this without an agenda. I'd love to hear how you and the previous poster can possibly justify this tone whereby you believe that the merger has been and gone and failed. You're aware that the foundation of the airline was only combined 4 months ago, right? I'd suggest looking at where things are in Spring of next year for a realistic success / failure test.