AirTran To meet with Midwest July 16, 2007 on Merger

[RadioClash]

...
Do I think they'd take the pilots? Absolutely... all the 737 pilots, that is. Not so sure about the 717 guys... Guys are wanting to protect themselves as much as possible for merger/acquisition worries and are flocking to the 737 and avoiding upgrading into the 717 and getting seat locked.

I guess I don't understand something here. Lets say SWA buys us, and they take only the 737 pilots, what about the 717 pilot that has been here 10 years vs. the 737 pilot that has been at AirTran a month. Does seniority not come into play here? That would totally blow.

 

[717capt]

I guess I don't understand something here. Lets say SWA buys us, and they take only the 737 pilots, what about the 717 pilot that has been here 10 years vs. the 737 pilot that has been at AirTran a month. Does seniority not come into play here? That would totally blow.

They wouldn't take anyone. If they did that they would open themselves up to some major lawsuits. Could they be won? don't know but to save the trouble don't take anyone.

Lear, you usually have some pretty good posts here however dirtying up the balance sheet is not a way of doing business, especially for Gary Kelly et. al. don't forget atthe end of the day you have to answer to the shareholders and making the company worthless does not gain you support from, as Joe L. likes to say when he refers to the shareholders of Midwest "Owners"....

 

[Kharma Police]

I guess I don't understand something here. Lets say SWA buys us, and they take only the 737 pilots, what about the 717 pilot that has been here 10 years vs. the 737 pilot that has been at AirTran a month. Does seniority not come into play here? That would totally blow.

Unfortunately it has happened in the past, when Delta acquired PAN-AM's assets they took the Airbus and 727 pilots, not the senior 747 guys, both were ALPA carriers.

 

[FIREMAN]

How can you buy a major hub and not take at least most of the pilots with out shutting down that hub?
AT may have some overlap in other cities but none in ATL and Southwest does not have enough jets sitting idle to fill the gap.

 

[Joey Bayonne]

you don't really think that they would take the pilots do you?

I can understand SWA not wanting the 717's, and I guess the 717 pilots may be an issue but not to take anyone? What do you propose they would do with all of our 737's? Let 'em sit? Doesn't sound likely... I doubt even SWA could train pilots fast enough to fill the extra slots without letting our 73's sit and cost them money.

 

[717capt]

I can understand SWA not wanting the 717's, and I guess the 717 pilots may be an issue but not to take anyone? What do you propose they would do with all of our 737's? Let 'em sit? Doesn't sound likely... I doubt even SWA could train pilots fast enough to fill the extra slots without letting our 73's sit and cost them money.

Ok this thread has just about been beaten to death huh? Why not ask the ATA guys what southwest did with them, or how many they interviewd or hired. Hell we were even planning on doing a codeshare/sub service using ata's 737's initially and replacing them one for one with one of our 73's and pilots. Southwest could easily do that. Insead of speculating why don't we just ask one of the southwest guys that post on this forum what they have been hearing.

As far as the DL-PanAM thing, yeah I did forget about that one but your absolutley correct. They took the 727 and 310 airplanes and pilots but I don't think that was a merger. didn't they just aquire certain assets? Not sure. Hopefully if a merger agreement was enetered into by anyone, the employees would go along. That is certainly our stance with Midwest and Airtran has gone out of their way to let people know that. Maybe it will be a major factor in getting any merger approved by the govt. Who knows?

 

[CitationLover]

Ok this thread has just about been beaten to death huh? Why not ask the ATA guys what southwest did with them, or how many they interviewd or hired. Hell we were even planning on doing a codeshare/sub service using ata's 737's initially and replacing them one for one with one of our 73's and pilots. Southwest could easily do that. Insead of speculating why don't we just ask one of the southwest guys that post on this forum what they have been hearing.

As far as the DL-PanAM thing, yeah I did forget about that one but your absolutley correct. They took the 727 and 310 airplanes and pilots but I don't think that was a merger. didn't they just aquire certain assets? Not sure. Hopefully if a merger agreement was enetered into by anyone, the employees would go along. That is certainly our stance with Midwest and Airtran has gone out of their way to let people know that. Maybe it will be a major factor in getting any merger approved by the govt. Who knows?

I think PanAm pilots won a lawsuit over the "selective" pilots who went to Delta. They sued ALPA and won, I believe.

 

[Falcon Jet 1]

We took all of the Morris guys and stapled them, but pay protected. Muse was a diiferent story, their union screwed the guys by not telling them they had an offer. That is from a Muse guy by the way

 

[HalinTexas]

I don't think that SWA buying Airtran is the best way to spend their money. There are better ways of accomplishing the same thing without sacrificing corporate culture.

SWA loaned ATA about $110M and took 27% equity in the company. They gained the lions share of MDW airport, eliminated some compitition and gained a revenue stream. When SWA got their money back after MP paid them off after the BK in 2005, they had earned back almost half of their investment. I would gather that SWA has more than earned back their investment in MDW/ATA, and they're still receiving a dividend on it at no risk.

If SWA bought Airtran they would have to assimilate all of it's employees, which would be the hardest thing. There would be furloughs. I dont' think the B717 would generate the returns required to keep them. The B737's would have to be reconfigured/painted. The ATL operation would probably be reduced due to redundancy, therefore reducing cash flow. The price paid for access to ATL would be too high, and the returns to small.

 

[PCL_128]

I don't think this would happen even if SWA wanted to waste all that money on it. I find it very unlikely that Joe or the AirTran board would go along with any acquisition by another carrier. They would resist, and I doubt GK is interested in a hostile takeover.