jrl767

all the FT wannabe-CEOs don’t think about those questions because they’re too busy noodling on the possible impacts to their travel patterns and status accumulation

drminn

Oh I don't now. Maybe to waste the little money they have, instead of using it to shore up their operations?

They tried before and were quite successful, i.e. Alitalia, LATAM, I am sure I am forgetting some.

The Situation

B6 made the bid for Spirit, not Frontier and at face value B6's bid is a really stupid idea. No alignment with corporate culture and regulatory issues galore. My guess is that management decided to make the bid because they felt threatened by a Spirit/Frontier tie up that would make that ULCC a similar sized competitor to B6. Knowing that the buyout is unlikely to receive regulatory approval (especially if they don't put their heart into it), they will eat the breakup fee and derail the Spirit/Frontier merger and preserve their place in the market.

And no, DL is not going to get in a bidding war for another airline.

flyerCO

None of those were mergers. DL can't legally merge with a foreign airline.

hhdl

AF already partners with QF (and JL and SQ, for that matter), so a DL/QF partnership isn't completely out of the question.

readywhenyouare

I'm pretty sure Oneworld and Star would have something to say about an alliance between DL and QF or NZ. Why do some people seem to think Delta can just do anything that they please and no one will stop them? 🤦🏻‍♂️

Lomapaseo

There are still ways to make money (for somebody) by yet another leaked announcement that a big airline is offering to buy a little guy. The insiders (friends of a friend or your barber) pass a subtle hint and they buy up a load of airline stock waiting for the leak and confirmation to drive up the stock and then they sell about the time that this forum dissects the utter hopelessness of the parties (including the government) ever approving it.

And a lucky few get to make a mil or so

hhdl

Oneworld doesn't seem able to stop AFKL partnering with JL (can earn FB miles on nearly any (except for flights between France and Japan in most economy fare classes) JL flight and FB miles can be used on JL) or QF (and on limited MH flights).

flyerCO

If the alliance tried to do this an antitrust case would be in making. Regardless there's plenty of examples (not just the AF/KL / QF/JL example) that prove this isn't the case.

readywhenyouare

Alitalia was a Skyteam member. So no shock they cooperated with DL. And with Latam's financial woes Delta gave them a lot of money to ditch their partnership with AA. Qantas is no where close to insolvency so Delta would have to pay dearly to even get their attention let alone abandon AA. There's nothing stopping Delta from serving smaller markets in Oceania if they want to. I'm sure the likes of Christchurch and Alice Springs would love nonstops to the US so I doubt there would be any sweat or regulatory hurdles.

ND76

I'm not a wannabe CEO, nor do I play one on TV. I am fascinated by the transportation industry generally and enjoy observing it and thinking about it. I wouldn't pretend to give any of the veteran airline executives any advice as to business moves to make.

I look at proposed mergers and try to figure out the possible motivations of the parties, and what the potential gains would be.

I can't understand what jetBlue sees in Spirit, since they have different business models and do not have a congruent product. Wouldn't jetBlue be better off taking their $3.6 bn (?) offer for Spirit and expanding its own fleet and ground operations? How many unique slots does Spirit control at capacity-controlled airports that jetBlue could integrate into its network? Is Spirit much of a player in New York City? Spirit is certainly a player here at CLE, but this particular medium-sized airport is a free for all with plenty of gate capacity and landing/takeoff slots for any airline to grow here.

emma dog

As someone with similar feelings about armchair ceo…

I wonder if B6 is just trying to be a spoiler for the spirit merger. Slow it down and gum up the works.

flyerCO

Who said anything about ditching AA/OW? I'm talking a straight codeshare agreement just like AF/KL has with QF.

The Situation

Jetblue made the statement they would like to buy Spirit because it is difficult to buy aircraft right now and this is the easiest way to buy aircraft. Ummm...I don't buy it.

100% the reason.

SUPERTRAVEL

Definitely.
And it will never happen.
And I don't see F9/NK happening either.