American, US Airways Agree to Merge

[brianw999]

Aren't liveries the subject when you take jetphotos?

Yes, when I'm taking photos, liveries are the subject.

When I'm talking about the service given and the implications of a merger they are not. What I basically meant was that when I'm sitting in a plane watching a film and waiting for my gin and tonic, I couldn't give a shit how its painted !
When I'm at Myrtle Avenue taking pictures, that's when I care about the livery.

Speaking of the livery, I quite like the new American livery. Hopefully the merger will find a way to incorporate the US Airways Stars and Stripes logo.

[TeeVee]

i suspect the US Air livery is history as will be its brand. from what i've read, the AA brand has been deemed stronger and has been chosen to survive. that probably means the livery as well.

[B757300]

i suspect the US Air livery is history as will be its brand. from what i've read, the AA brand has been deemed stronger and has been chosen to survive. that probably means the livery as well.

I'm sure one of the first things decided in the merger talks was to keep the AA livery. They've been running commercials for weeks about AA's new look. If they were going to ditch it for the USAirways livery, it's unlikely they would have spent that much time, effort, and money to paint a few planes and runs a ton of commercials.

[larsv]

just look at this merger commercial in the end you'll see the 2 logos merge into the new American logo introduced a few weeks ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=68xF-j9h6us

[AA 1818]

Excuse me, y'all, while I weep.

So, let's start this honkey!

A330s will now be part of the AA fleet. As will a butt load of A32Xs from good ol' U.S.

PHX to disappear? Me thinks so too.

CLT to get diddly-squat? Yup.

I think that JFK will remain JFK. MIA will maybe see a slight pull back, but that beast will be expanding fabulously anyway. What does US have on the West Coast, save for PHX (which is too far inland to be a competent West Coast hub to Asia, the Pacific i.e. anywhere really), so. ..oh, and the craptastic situation at PHL, or worse, what happened at PIT (again, too far inland to be a hub to Transatlantic flights save for large aircraft that are really just being used for range).

As for the Unions and how and when they are going to furlough, well, that's a few billions of dollars, about a decade of infighting, and bickering, and sniping, and favoritism before they get along.

And that's just the half of it...

[Leftseat86]

Incredibly disconcerting news.

[IberiaMD-87]

I tend to say that the new AA aims to do everything to “optimize” their business. The new company could be currently in a good position to modify lease-agreements to enable an accelerated retirement of the remaining MD-80-fleet and a phaseout of this type within a much shorter time than earlier estimated. As we all know the Super 80 was and is the main factor that AA is financially in a not so nice shape (there are many copy-and-paste articles with such explanations (and this is the reason for my assumption ). So it would be a logical move and my expectation to show to the public that the airline will be highly profitable again and extremely efficient with new airplanes. The airline showed in the past that they are able to retire rather large fleets in a relatively short time. Just remember the Fokker 100 or Airbus A300. Additionally all these steps of optimization and shaping will probably include and result in furloughs and closure of departments which are no longer needed as a combined entity.

Just my two cents.

[AA 1818]

Question;

What would happen in AA decided to not push the fleet repainting as quickly. I mean, we all know that the 'bare polish' is lighter than painted bodies on aircraft, so, why not only paint the new planes that are coming in. Keep the bare metal on the ones that are. Paint the US fleet, keep the new birds coming in (in new colors), and leave the rest until you retire them.

We will never see the MD-80s in the new c/s (though, wouldn't that be sweet...), but does having two c/s (or be in transition) for a few years. Does the flying public really care that much about a c/s?

[Highkeas]

Merger may be blocked

The USA Justice Dept has sued to prevent this merger

http://news.yahoo.com/u-sues-block-amr-us-airways-merger-144911195.html

Why so late with this announcement?

[EconomyClass]

I've heard of tons of mergers where both identities remained and it was just operations that were slowly merged. Seems to me any costs that are unnecessary should be avoided in the competitive markets. After all, independent companies join codeshare networks. That seems just a step away from a merger without loss of identity.

[TeeVee]

it boggles my mind that these corporate greed-bags actually think that the public buys into the bullshit that merging two of the biggest US airlines is not going to reduce/kill competition. it is first grade math.

on the other hand, since the airlines essentially price match on a fairly regular basis, having more than one usually means nothing as far as price goes, at least on some routes.

while i have little hope that this merger will be blocked, at least the justice department has taken a stand against it.

[EconomyClass]

Doesn't all the real competition come from small airlines like Spirit?

[TeeVee]

cnn money is quoting a price waterhouse "study" that claims that domestic airfares have only increased by 1.8% annually between 2004 and 2011.

i call this a total lie. i fly very often and although the majority of my flights are international since 2009 mia - lga, a route i fly a lot, have gone up 70%. that's on a cheapest far purchased 30 days in advance. mia - phx fares have gone up 30%.

and let's not even discuss what these companies have done to international fares! and why would the justice department not look at the price hikes of international fares? sticking their heads in the sand? christ! international fares have gone up by 50% in the past two years alone on many routes.

[AA 1818]

Where was the concern of the DOJ when they allowed DL and NW to merge, with both in bankruptcy and both facing an uncertain future alone? Where was the DOJ concern when they allowed HP and US to merge? Better yet, when UA and CO merged - where was the outcry? Did anyone even bat an eyelash as the WN/FL merger? Right, and yet for this one, we have major issues and problems.

When AA, BA an IB announced a joint venture for their Trans-Atlantic routes - they had to surrender slots to DL (which, surprisingly did not work out...) on the MIA-LHR sector.

If the DOJ were truly so worried about anti-trust concerns, why not oppose and halt the mergers of all of the other mega-carriers that they have not only allowed, but fostered. DL, NW, UA, US, all entered reorganization - massively screwed their employees and vendors, and then emerged with fantastic capitals to merge into shining new chapters of their lives. Why deprive AA (and for that matter, the "Sick Man of the American airline industry" US) the same?

Naturally, this will force the New AA to consolidate (shedding excess routes, hubs and aircraft). This will only allow other carriers (namely upstarts, or the ever expanding LCC carriers in the country) with newly abandoned airports, slots and chances to compete. In reality - it's a sickeningly vicious industry and cycle - with one thing working well - competition. There are safeguards in place; if a competitor competes in unfair tactics - they can complain. If the customers feel slighted, mistreated or gouged - they can chose another carrier, and in this industry - with a supposed 4 legacy carriers, and at least 10 LCCs that have trans-national ranges, carriers are not in short supply.

If you want to deregulate - then deregulate. This half-a**ed attempt is not only laughable, but clearly targeted against AA/US.

[EconomyClass]

With all the codeshare alliances, I think "mergers" just create an opportunity to collude on price legally. Oh, and there are guys on Wall Street who pocket HUGE commissions for shepherding the merger through (remember Michael Millken?) As for the government's claim that this will "drive up prices and fees". If that happens, I'm anticipating it will be joyously received by cutrate competitors. With Internet booking, pricing and fee gaps are instantly found. Well, that's how I look at this type of transaction.