Originally Posted by
sbm12
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I think that the merger is a fait accompli, but that all the doom and gloom associated with it that you've cited is a mix of reality and over-reaching. Losing the 733/735s isn't a bad thing, for starters. They're old and have small F cabins. Seeing IAH shrink would be surprising, though it would not be the end of the world, especially if fewer E/W connections are routed through it and its role as a connector to S. America and Latin America is increased. There are a lot of questions surrounding any merger, and most of the things you identified will be covered in them.
Bingo! We may lose routes like IAH-SMF, IAH-RNO, IAH-OAK, and the seasonal IAH-PSP, but I can see the influx of 763s leading to routes like IAH-SCL, IAH-MVD, IAH-GIG (nonstop), And IAH-several secondary Brazilian cities (depending upon UA's route authorities). Belo Horizonte & Belem, perhaps?
I doubt we lose PDX, TUS, SJC, ABQ, or even the secondary L.A. airports. There's no way IAH-SEA/PHX/LAX/SFO/SAN disappear. IAH generates a good deal of O&D traffic, due to it being a major hub (if not The Hub) of the world's energy/petroleum/chemical industries. Adding DEN as a hub could only improve things from IAH, as one has to connect through SLC already to get service to much of the upper mountain-west (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming). DEN is much more convenient as a connecting point to those areas if originating from IAH.
The real question is the Caribbean. IAH is pretty far west to service much of the Eastern Caribbean (and IAD/EWR are fairly far North, though EWR has a good deal of flights down that way). With DL, ATL provides a huge amount of options to the Caribbean (moreso than even CO out of EWR). I hope that CO/UA would not rely on US out of CLT to fill the holes in its Caribbean coverage. I would prefer a separate code-share agreement with NK to that
.