I'll answer some of that. Not a much better fleet match, but it is better. If nothing else, the 757s are the same and NW has the 787 on order, something Delta is going to be doing soon anyway. Hubs that are close together, yes. But in the case of both Delta and NWA, the hubs that are close are minor hubs (MEM and CVG). The major hubs are well seperated (ATL, DTW, MSP).
Route overlap, now there I disagree with you. Minimal overlap. But there is some. However, no where near the degree of overlap that a US/DL merger would have. Add to that, a DL/NW merger brings together a big pacific route structure and a big atlantic route structure. DL/US still leaves a big hole in the pacific.
The maintenance staff.....frankly that is the least of my worries in a NW/DL merger. The DL maintenance workers are non union, and from what I have been told a lot of the NW replacement workers were furloughed DL mechanics. There won't be any issues there.
I still don't want to merge with anybody. I don't think our management wants to merge with anybody. But, we here at Delta realize if a merger is going to be forced on us, we will be better off in a merger that makes sense.
Minimal overlap is right with NWA. Besides flying from our hubs to their hubs (ATL--MSP, DTW, MEM, etc), the only other overlap is LAX and SFO to HNL. The USAir/DL combo has so much overlap that it is crazy. If you move the CLT hub down to the SW about 220 nm, then it could almost fit over it exactly, except a few cities. That is overlap, whether Parker wants to admit it or not. Then throw in all of the NE stuff, including the profitable Shuttles. Parker is simply lying to himself if he thinks the route maps do not match. And take a look at the European networks from our JFK and their PHL. Almost the same cities, from originating hubs 90 miles apart. Hello?
The possibility of a NWA/DL merge would actually create those "synergies" good ole Doug Parker has been talking about. It would bring us complementary routes, adding a very strong Asia presence, to our strong European and growing South American operations. IF CAL and UAL get together , the only airline that would be able to compete with that monster would be DL/NW. We both would cover all the hot spots--Asia, Europe, and South America. No other combo could do it. Some thing AA and NW might be able to, but a huge problem there is the Midwest hubs. The three hubs--MSP, ORD, and DTW are all next to each other, and nobody (or no Congressman) would want one of those huge hubs to go. Sure, Southwest could come in, but not offer all of the connections to small communities or INTL cities.
As far as fleets go, NWA would need to replace those 200 DC9s. Boeing, one of our creditors, would LOVE to replace them with 737-700s, and I bet Embraer would like to sell E190s also to them.
If a merger HAS TO take place, I think NWA and DL would do it, followed by CAL and UAL. IT would make truly global carriers.
Bye Bye--General Lee
