SWA's FAs Ponder CEO Gary Kelly's Next Move
 

The Chicago Business Journal
July 28th, 2015 2:13pm

Southwest flight attendants ponder CEO Gary Kelly's next move after contract vote

"....Chief among them is the possibility Southwest Airlines and its CEO Gary Kelly could be contemplating another merger in the not too distant future.

According to sources, the three most likely merger targets are Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and JetBlue. "Many of us are just sitting back waiting to see if it will be Hawaiian, Alaska or JetBlue," noted one source...."

Of course, because he did such a good job on the last merger.

Perhaps he thinks that practice will make perfect.

Edit: it just occurred to me the worst thing about this: we will have another 4 years of loyal flyers from another airline on this board complaining about how Southwest has wrecked their great situation.

Oh God, please, no more...

SWA's FAs Ponder CEO Gary Kelly's Next Move
 

Oh, God!!! No!!! Please no more!!!! That's enough!!!

I agree that they b!tched up a lot of things in the merger, but stockholders sure have nothing to complain about.

Which some people would say is the bottom line.

I've flown WN almost exclusively since 1999 and AirTran only a few times a year to/from Atlanta and can really sympathize how Southwest has wrecked their great situation...

I am in total agreement that Southwest ruined a good thing. Whether that good thing would have continued without the Southwest purchase is unknowable.

That doesn't mean that I want to see those complaints for 4 years.

Change is an integral part of life; many economists would argue it's an integral part of capitalism. As an aside, personally, I think that airline deregulation is a very mixed bag.

Was Air Tran supposed to continue lurching from crisis to crisis? Was Air Tran a socialist enterprise existing soley to provide benefit to Atlanta/Consumers?

All the lagacy airlines used the bankruptcy code to shed costs and reduce capacity. It's a new world, and Southwest was forced to adapt - adapt or perish.

Just to point out that Artran management pulled off one of the most successful in the history of capitalism in teh wake of the Valujet crash. At the time of the sale they were profitable and the airline market was poised for a recovery, to the point that alsmot every airline is reporting record profits.

Had Airtran remained independent it seem likely they would be posting record profits too. Gary Kelly time the purchase masterfully to get Airtran for a good price, far less than he likely could today.

Any new acquisition would likely be far more expensive and would not have a improving market to mask any problems.

Notwithstanding armchair-quarterbacking, the Air Tran board weighed the options and thought differently.

AS or HA would bring in Hawaii. Heck, HA could bring in Oz/NZ!! I'd definitely pay $12.50 for EBCI for SFO-(HNL)-SYD

You can't take a 737 from HNL to SYD, and WN will sell the 767s to Delta in a half price fire sale.

Also, any SFO-HNL direct flights will move to OAK, and if you wish to go to HNL from SFO you will have to layover in DAL. :-)

I'm not sure the board disagreed with my analysis.

The fact that the offer was above market price and took away risk of future economic uncertainty was in their favor. I think the Airtran Board did the right thing for their shareholders. I'm not sure Gary Kelly did the right thing for his.

Without a doubt Airtran customers suffered.

Back to the topic at hand, I wonder what GK will due now.

I understand when the Airtran pilots rejected his offer he basically threatened to let them all go if they didn't accept the last offer and many still think he was already planning to get rid of the 717s.

Admittedly that was a very different decision but I wonder if this will prompt a more hardline response form management.

I was just thinking what would have ultimately happened if AirTran's deal in 2004 to acquire TZ's 14 MDW gates plus TZ's LGA/DCA slots actually went through? WN stepping in and acquiring TZ's assets was essentially just a play to block AirTran from MDW and gain those LGA/DCA slots. Thus, laying the path for AirTran to ultimately be acquired by WN down the road.