Well...at least the rumors have turned a corner. A couple of months ago the rumors were all about MORE furloughs...now at least there are plausable rumors of recall.
...other than - the company is recalling to somehow protect the furloughs. I highly doubt that is the case.
As far as Alaska being bought by American...I highly doubt that is possible...in fact, I think it would be more financially feasable for Alaska to purchase American than AA to purchase Alaska....not that I think either is possible. Right now AA has the second worst liquidity position of the majors and would not have an easy time getting someone to lend the money to them. Paying cash would break AA, they are running pretty thin as it is. 7.5 billion in current assets seems like a lot, but not when you consider they have 9.5 billion in short term liabilities. They would have to borrow the money and I doubt anyone would finance the transaction at a worthwhile rate.
The only way I see AS & AA as possible is a merger and I don't see what would be in it for Alaska shareholders.