Why UA should buy Air India right now!
#46
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: What I write is my opinion alone..don't read into it anything not written.
Posts: 9,686
Enough to know that there is close to zero demand right now to all of them, even without govt restrictions.
#47
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,391
#48
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2018
Programs: UA LT GS | UA LT Club | Marriott LT Titanium
Posts: 1,250
AI flies to 44 international cities, of which united flies to 1/2 of those. The remaining cities are places like Male, Kabul, Jeddha, etc. Some UA would keep, some they would toss.
Broader point is the 'spin globe, point finger' airline that serves 200+ distinctions would now serve 222+ destinations. UA could easily integrate something like this...
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Mar 15, 2020 at 11:19 am Reason: Merged consecutive posts by same member; please use multi-quote
#50
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,391
It took them, what, five or six years to integrate CO and UA. This is at least an order of magnitude more challenging.
You're talking about an airline that literally nobody wants, with customer satisfaction scores as bad as, or worse than, United's. An airline that managed to turn in a 62% on-time performance rating (vs. UA's much-derided 76.9% on 10x the number of flights). An airline with labor problems as bad as UA's used to be.
Meanwhile, UA is so cash-strapped that they're opening up new lines of credit and trying to borrow money from their customers through their schedule change policy. By the time any acquisition could go through, UA is likely to be in bankruptcy.
You're talking about an airline that literally nobody wants, with customer satisfaction scores as bad as, or worse than, United's. An airline that managed to turn in a 62% on-time performance rating (vs. UA's much-derided 76.9% on 10x the number of flights). An airline with labor problems as bad as UA's used to be.
Meanwhile, UA is so cash-strapped that they're opening up new lines of credit and trying to borrow money from their customers through their schedule change policy. By the time any acquisition could go through, UA is likely to be in bankruptcy.
#51
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2018
Programs: UA LT GS | UA LT Club | Marriott LT Titanium
Posts: 1,250
Vistara is a peanut (3% market share). Indigo has roughly 50% marketshare and generates roughly $1 billion USD/yr in profit. Even more now that fuel cost is plummeting. One can make money in India. Especially with exclusivity on international routes, which would be part of the deal. UA is uniquely positioned to nail the integration!