Blue/Alaska/Hawaiian merger

[Flyby1206]

CEO Anderson has said that Seattle will be the Atlanta of the west coast. Northwest and Delta helped build up Alaska over the years by code sharing, with Alaska using their financial resources. Now Delta is pushing into Alaska markets affecting their bottom line.

Would not surprise me if Delta walks in after a while and offers the board a deal they couldn't refuse.

Wouldn't it be hard to get DOJ approval after DL dumps a ton of capacity on AS routes like they are doing now?

I'm thinking Anderson already approached them with his best offer, but AS said no, so DL will now just create their own SEA hub and chip away at AS's profitability. Someday AS will decide they need to merge with someone, but I don't think it will be DL. Blood has already been shed between these two carriers.

 

[Dan Roman]

I'm curious why no one seems to bring up Frontier. Too be sure, my take is most merger rumors by pilots are pipe dreams. I seriously doubt Hawaiian has as much worth in a merged carrier as it does as a stand alone carrier, but........if you want to dream, Virgin, Frontier and JetBlue seem to be the best match for Hawaiian. Four Airbus fleets with a rep for good service that have a large presence in the east, west and central US feeding an international hub in Hawaii that has lots of Asian potential.
Any future growth to Europe or South America could be done with A350's with plenty of feed. Hawaiian has an inside track on on both the new NEO's and A350's.

 

[BentOver]

Frontier was just bought by a fund that formerly owned Spirit... Or something like that. ( my Frontier airlines knowledge is lacking)

I think a general consensus is Frontier and Spirit getting together somehow.....

But I do agree a HA, JB, VA 3some may be pretty enticing.... Not sure about VA, but JB seems like it would fit in well with some of the destinations HA does on the West Coast and NYC...

 

[ROSWELL41]

I'm curious why no one seems to bring up Frontier. Too be sure, my take is most merger rumors by pilots are pipe dreams. I seriously doubt Hawaiian has as much worth in a merged carrier as it does as a stand alone carrier, but........if you want to dream, Virgin, Frontier and JetBlue seem to be the best match for Hawaiian. Four Airbus fleets with a rep for good service that have a large presence in the east, west and central US feeding an international hub in Hawaii that has lots of Asian potential.
Any future growth to Europe or South America could be done with A350's with plenty of feed. Hawaiian has an inside track on on both the new NEO's and A350's.

Get back to me in a year regarding F9's reputation. F9 is going to become a Spirit clone. They will be making buckets of cash, but you won't be mentioning them in the same sentence as B6 or VX. The only thing they will have in common is an Airbus fleet.

Not too sure what you mean about an 'inside track' on the NEOs. Spirit will be flying NEOs before Hawaiian. I believe you guys are the launch customer for the A350?

 

[Flyby1206]

I'm curious why no one seems to bring up Frontier. Too be sure, my take is most merger rumors by pilots are pipe dreams. I seriously doubt Hawaiian has as much worth in a merged carrier as it does as a stand alone carrier, but........if you want to dream, Virgin, Frontier and JetBlue seem to be the best match for Hawaiian. Four Airbus fleets with a rep for good service that have a large presence in the east, west and central US feeding an international hub in Hawaii that has lots of Asian potential.
Any future growth to Europe or South America could be done with A350's with plenty of feed. Hawaiian has an inside track on on both the new NEO's and A350's.

Dan, would you say the majority of HA pax are mostly leisure US travelers and O&D Asian business/leisure travelers? Do many people book itineraries between US and Asia using HNL as a connect hub?

 

[sniper]

it will be good merger.


i think


but you could be ran out of business by Delta

 

[General Lee]

Wouldn't it be hard to get DOJ approval after DL dumps a ton of capacity on AS routes like they are doing now?

I'm thinking Anderson already approached them with his best offer, but AS said no, so DL will now just create their own SEA hub and chip away at AS's profitability. Someday AS will decide they need to merge with someone, but I don't think it will be DL. Blood has already been shed between these two carriers.

You are correct. A merger MIGHT be allowed if there wasn't much overlap of routes, but lately both airlines have been adding routes on top of the other carrier. That doesn't help at all. The govt likes competition for the consumer, and you can't just dump routes to get it approved. It might have been more likely before, but it's looking less likely each time they add new routes to compete.


Bye Bye----General Lee

 

[Dan Roman]

Dan, would you say the majority of HA pax are mostly leisure US travelers and O&D Asian business/leisure travelers? Do many people book itineraries between US and Asia using HNL as a connect hub?

We primarily fly people to Hawaii going on a Hawaii vacation (and people from Hawaii going somewhere, LAS being the leader there), it is one of the main reasons that makes Hawaiian a fairly week merger contender. People like to start their Hawaiian vacation on Hawaiian Air, that would be lost in any merger. We are growing the Asia to west coast market though, China is seen as a place that will evolve.

 

[BentOver]

We primarily fly people to Hawaii going on a Hawaii vacation (and people from Hawaii going somewhere, LAS being the leader there), it is one of the main reasons that makes Hawaiian a fairly week merger contender. People like to start their Hawaiian vacation on Hawaiian Air, that would be lost in any merger. We are growing the Asia to west coast market though, China is seen as a place that will evolve.

I agree with our passenger travel profiles, although keeping the "Hawaiian" name on the side of the airplane (and everything else) would be very easy...

"Hawaiian Airlines operated by ......."

History has shown passengers really don't care about who it is, only the cheapest ticket... And for those remaining who do care about starting their Hawaiian vacation on Hawaiian Airlines, they won't necessarily care about who the actual owners of the company are...

I've learned through a recent furlough that anything is always possible. Appearances (such as the Hawaiian brand feeding Hawaii) take a distant second seat, and everything comes down to money.. I don't doubt for a second our newest board member is in it for one thing.... If the right deal comes along I am pretty positive what his vote would be...


I don't want to see it happen at all, but I've got a suspicion that something will eventually happen. I'm in a wait and see period...

BTW, besides some of the other airlines showing strong financials, why did HA stock jump nearly 7% this morning? I've tried finding any news on it or reasons why but came up with nothing....

 

[Flyby1206]

I agree with our passenger travel profiles, although keeping the "Hawaiian" name on the side of the airplane (and everything else) would be very easy...

"Hawaiian Airlines operated by ......."

History has shown passengers really don't care about who it is, only the cheapest ticket... And for those remaining who do care about starting their Hawaiian vacation on Hawaiian Airlines, they won't necessarily care about who the actual owners of the company are...

I've learned through a recent furlough that anything is always possible. Appearances (such as the Hawaiian brand feeding Hawaii) take a distant second seat, and everything comes down to money.. I don't doubt for a second our newest board member is in it for one thing.... If the right deal comes along I am pretty positive what his vote would be...


I don't want to see it happen at all, but I've got a suspicion that something will eventually happen. I'm in a wait and see period...

BTW, besides some of the other airlines showing strong financials, why did HA stock jump nearly 7% this morning? I've tried finding any news on it or reasons why but came up with nothing....

Lots of airlines jumped this morning on the Delta December traffic report

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/airline-stocks-rise-delta-revenue-190159174.html

Airline stocks rose Friday, led higher by Delta Air Lines after it reported better-than-expected December revenue.

Delta also said its fuel price for the month was cheaper than it had forecast, by 3 cents per gallon.

After the announcement by Delta, S&P Capital IQ raised its rating on Delta to "Strong Buy" from "Buy," raised its estimates for 2013 and 2014 profits, and raised its price target for Delta to $40, from $30. Analyst Jim Corridore wrote that he thinks Delta is likely to continue to be able to take in more per-seat revenue than other airlines.

In afternoon trading, Delta Air Lines Inc. was up $1.45, or 5.5 percent, to $29.15.

United Continental Holdings Inc. rose $1.93, or 4.8 percent, to $39.66. American Airlines Group Inc., which now also includes US Airways, rose $1.24, or 4.9 percent, to $26.60. Southwest Airlines Co. rose 43 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $19.31.

Smaller airlines were also higher. JetBlue Airways Corp. rose 45 cents, or 5.3 percent, to $9.06, and Alaska Air Group Inc. rose $1.56, or 2.2 percent, to $74.74. Spirit Airlines Inc. was up $1.59, or 3.2 percent, to $47.24.