Originally Posted by
FWAAA
Upon emerging from Ch 11, AA's labor costs are pretty well known for six years (until Sept 2018). Over at US, on the other hand, there's lots of labor cost uncertainty. I have to agree with Horton and the UCC members who think that LCC shareholders should pay the price for that uncertainty and that AMR creditors should be compensated for that risk with a much larger equity stake than the LCC shareholders.
+1
Additionally, there is the issue of pilot seniority integration, which is solely a cost of the merger. Finally, there is the huge cost of effectively dismantling US, many millions in costs to close the PHX and PHL hubs, the disruptions by a very disgruntled US tarmac group, breaking leases for gates, etc. Ultimately, if there is a US-AA merger, in a year it will look like a slightly larger AA, with more operations in the Southeast and DC.
AA has already incurred the costs of fixing itself and the cost of getting to a slightly larger AA with a merger is really a US cost. Plus the costs will be very significant.