AMR selling Eagle

[IAHERJ]

Details are comming out slowly but CNBC just announced that AMR is going to sell Eagle by the end of the year.

 

[Marko Ramius]

Wow, this time it's for real-that sucks.

 

[FO 4 Life]

AA Press Release

 

[OzBushWhacker]

What a shock. Anyone else thinking they are ditching eagle to set-up for a merger?

 

[ReverseSensing]

Details are comming out slowly but CNBC just announced that AMR is going to sell Eagle by the end of the year.

End of NEXT year.

 

[TWA Dude]

I wonder if this is the real reason why AMR reneged on the Supp W TA.

 

[Turtlesfly]

Yup, probably.

I actually just wanted to get on the first page of a 10-page thread.

Hi!!!!

 

[Zipperhead]

What a shock. Anyone else thinking they are ditching eagle to set-up for a merger?

AA Merge? I think you need to lay off the crack pipe. The APA has already expressed in a side letter that they are not in support of any further mergers.

 

[glasspilot1]

I can hear the stampede already as the flowthroughs with a number are running for the exit!

 

[JetMonkey]

Reminds me the day Continenal spun off Continenal Express (ExpressJet). That was a somber day for all the guys waiting to flow up. Man, they were pissed.

 

[Bill Nelson]

Man, they were pissed.

Ya, the realization that all of their peers who had been telling them that they were morons for staying at a regional by choice all of that time were right.

It is one thing for your peers to think you are an idiot, but it is another when you figure out they are right.

 

[JAM-BRO]

Ouchie!!! Sounds Like A Bad Case Of Whipsaw!!!!!!

 

[ultrarunner]

Pretty interesting. Regardless of the spin of the press release, Eagle will ultimately have to bid for the flying it's already doing.

And, on the flip side, it will be in a position to compete directly with AA.

Very interesting.

Eagle's a pretty big outfit. Not many folks kicking around with that kind of cash to throw at an airline investment.

 

[Jmoney]

Mormons....

I think I know of some Mormons like Jerry Atkin who are sitting on crap-piles of cash. I must say I am not at all impressed with the honesty and decency with which they have run ASA into the ground. Maybe Eagle will be fortunate enough to not be purchased by these kind of Mormons.

-Good Luck!

 

[igneousy2]

Eagle's a pretty big outfit. Not many folks kicking around with that kind of cash to throw at an airline investment.

They didn't say they were SELLING American Eagle, they said they were DIVESTING it which is not the same thing. DIVESTING is a much broader term which includes selling as a possibility.

"AMR continues to evaluate the form of the divestiture, which may include a spin-off to AMR shareholders, a sale to a third party, or some other form of separation from AMR"


AMR will probably prefer to sell American Eagle but it is clear from the article that they know that it may not be a possibility. They will probably do an IPO or a stock-issue to shareholders or more likely a combination of the two with AMR still holding a substantial position in the newly formed company just like they did with SABRE.

Except for the few AA flow-through pilots, American Eagle pilots are FAR better off without AMR than with. If AMR had allowed Eagle to bid on flying after 9/11 like Skywest, Mesa, and Republic did, there would now be 6000 American Eagle pilots instead of the 3000 that they have today. While the independent Regionals have benefited from exponential growth as all of the legacies shed there domestic flying, the wholey owneds were parking airplanes, cancelling orders, and furloughing. American Eagle will now be able to ignore Americans' scope clause and not limit the flying it bids on.

AMR has been talking about selling Eagle since at least right after 9/11. If any American Eagle pilots are completely surprised then they weren't paying attention.

Later