Oh this could be terrible news. Both Asia and Africa, my 2 most frequently visited continents, will have huge gaps! Here's hoping OneWorld starts looking for some decent alternatives quickly!

The airline industry is turning into a high school rumor mill with all this discussion of hookups and breakups. The other rumors from this year alone include:
BA and QF merging
BA and IB merging (at the same time as QF merger rumors)
QF and MH merging
S7 buying MA
LH hooking up with any airline with self-esteem issues.

Hmmm... I strongly encourage you to look up the definition of the word "rumor." I hardly think that publicly acknowledged merger discussions, by the companies involved, equate to a "rumor." The word rumor essentially implies no credible source or possibly even an untruth.

In the first two examples alone that you gave, both were publicly announced talks, by both parties involved. They were not kept secret.

Here are just the first articles that I found on each one:

"BA, Qantas merger talks collapse"
http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/18/news...ntas/index.htm

"British Airways and Iberia announce merger plans"
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/bu....14867688.html

The fact that neither of those two mergers was/has been consummated, doesn't mean that the attempt to consummate them was a "rumor."

Regards

My 2 cents ....

DL buys into JL and JL bolts to SkyTeam. Only a question of when, not if.

If AA is then serious about serving Asia (a stretch, I know) they should start service to HKG from JFK, ORD, LAX, DFW and codeshare the heck with CX and KA ex-HKG. Those two serve Asia much better than JL does anyway. AA would offer a lower cost Transpac alternative to CX from LAX and JFK. Maybe AA cuts one of the DFW-NRT flights and finds some more 777s and makes peace with the pilots on rules.

Hey, I can dream. :D

Just out of curiosity, is this statement based on your expert level knowledge of airline business issues? Or the fact that you read the Bloomberg and/or WSJ article, like the rest of us, that essentially said as much?

Regards

wow...it would be good to see AA start to serve HKG, getting straight to DFW or MIA direct would be nice

AA doesn't have any equipment which can make this non-stop, do they?

RJ?

Dont they have B777?

Dont they concentrate more on the middle east and south asia? I think East Asia is the more important one now for market

AA flies the 777-200ER. CO currently flies a 777-200ER n/s EWR-HKG. The difference between the two routes is about 7 miles.

Like I said at the start of my post, "just my 2 cents", not based on specific facts, inside knowledge or divine revelation.

However, having been a frequently flyer to and through NRT for the past 30 years and seeing it evolve and reading published reports on JL's financial woes and looking at the history of how conjecture in the airline industry will many times become reality, and after putting all the known facts together with "gut feel", my bet there is a 75% chance DL buys into JL and JL goes SkyTeam.

Or..... I could be totally wrong and I continue to collect AA Q-points and miles on AA/JL codeshares. :)

Well do YOU have anything of relevance at all, to add to the topic .. when you are done lecturing others here?:rolleyes:

mike

I'm guessing the irony of your own post adding even less relevance to the topic at hand flew right by you...

It's not at all my intent to lecture. I'm genuinely interested in this issue. I was asking what I believe is a fair question. The poster made an assertion; I'm curious if that assertion is based on additional knowledge that some of us might not have or whether it's merely "head nodding" with the news articles as written. The poster certainly doesn't need to answer if he/she doesn't like/agree with my question. Nor in fact do you...


Enjoy your weekend.

I believe the range of the 777-200ER is ~ 7695 nautical miles... So, no problem :)

Cheers.