Oberstar STILL doesn't want mergers.....

[General Lee]

House chairman vows to fight airline merger: report



1:01:28 PM ET 1/29/2008

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Democratic congressman James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee, pledged to slow or stop a possible merger between Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) and either Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) or United Airlines, owned by UAL Corp. (UAUA), The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday on its Web site. Oberstar said he will pressure the Justice Department and the Transportation Department to probe the deals on antitrust grounds, as well as hold hearings, the newspaper reported.




So, if we throw in a large MX facility in MSP would he mind then? What would it take? (besides keeping the name and HDQs)


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[3ds]

what else is he going to say? take these jobs out of my state? He'll probably fight this publicly as long as possible so that voters perceive he is looking out for them, otherwise those NWA (and DAL too, in GA) folks who lose their jobs are likely to vote for his opponent next election. Checkout Pardus & co to see if they're funneling some extra cash to his reelection campaign -- perhaps Oberstar's aides are forecasting he can add xxM dollars to his coffers for every week he squawks and delays a 'done deal'. That's politics for you.

As for the mx facility, sure, but it doesn't make sense to repair broken jets when they might be frozen for 3 months a year. Let's see what the MN guys on this board say about job possibilities that could appease a senator.

 

[LJDRVR]

Oberstar was also vehemently against separating the age 65 language from the FAA authorization bill, until some back room deal was done and viola - Fly till you die.

His words mean nothing, fellas. The minute this guy gets his piece of the action, it's a done deal.

 

[Flying the Line]

An undeniable dilemma.

To cut costs you must cut service. you cannot cut 850M by cutting MSP-ATL et al.

What would you expect the GA legislators to say if the headquarters were moving to MSP.

I wonder what you, General, will say in two years?

 

[General Lee]

An undeniable dilemma.

To cut costs you must cut service. you cannot cut 850M by cutting MSP-ATL et al.

What would you expect the GA legislators to say if the headquarters were moving to MSP.

I wonder what you, General, will say in two years?

Say about what? A seamless merger could be great, combining stengths and probably adding growth on the West Coast where there is a gap. A bad merger, one with overlap and needless job loss for hedge fund gain would be bad.

If no merger is allowed, well, I guess that is better than bad ones being allowed. I think we will know a lot more in the next few weeks, and then Oberstar will have his say.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Flying the Line]

Q: How will the merged company cut 850M?

A: layoffs

 

[ACL65PILOT]

There will be plenty of layoffs. Some may be pilots, but the majority will come from the admin areas. IE Dispatchers, Leadership, and their support staffs, ect. There is a lot more money spent in those areas than one might think. Plus you stop paying for the space they occupied as well. Most will just be a cut on paper, but there is a lot more than just pilots and flight attendants that are on the chopping block.

 

[johnsonrod]

Q: How will the merged company cut 850M?

A: layoffs

Please layoff jacka$$ gate agents first. I sincerely doubt that pilots would be impacted too much if the route systems are truly complementary... NWA and Delta have complementary route systems - unlike UAL and Delta.

 

[johnsonrod]

Q: How will the merged company cut 850M?

A: layoffs

Please layoff jacka$$ gate agents first. I sincerely doubt that pilots would be impacted too much if the route systems are truly complementary... NWA and Delta have complementary route systems - unlike UAL and Delta. If anything, pilot hiring at the combined carrier could be reduced going forward.

 

[jonjuan]

Please layoff jacka$$ gate agents first. I sincerely doubt that pilots would be impacted too much if the route systems are truly complementary... NWA and Delta have complementary route systems - unlike UAL and Delta.

The potential layoff of regional pilots and admin employees due to a major airline merger will also factor in to Oberstar's position for/against a DL/NW/UAL combo.