DALPA Rep Says no go to merger....

[filejw]

Whatever happened to Baghdad Bob? That guy was HILLARIOUS, Bush should've hired him for his press secretary!

Well last time he was in public his hair was white and his mouth not so wide open.

 

[~~~^~~~]

The DOJ, what a joke. For the past several years they have been too busy trying to keep their own employees out of jail and keep anything from sticking to Dick Cheney's legacy. Under a Democrat they will be preoccupied trying to arrange special prosecutions.

If it were the FTC I'd be concerned. But a merger which benefits employees would not be stopped by the DOJ.

 

[PCL_128]

I'm not too sure about that. Many other factors to be considered, not the least of which would be the state of the industry.

An Obama DOJ would be more likely to approve the deal if labor was on board and much more likely to reject it if labor opposes the deal.

The problem is that an NWA/DAL merger would likely precipitate a wave of other mergers, and you can't approve one huge merger and deny the others. Even if labor was on board with your merger, labor might not be on board in the slew of other mergers that would follow. I think you'd find a Democratic administration much tougher to deal with on the merger front.

 

[Heavy Set]

The DOJ, what a joke. For the past several years they have been too busy trying to keep their own employees out of jail and keep anything from sticking to Dick Cheney's legacy. Under a Democrat they will be preoccupied trying to arrange special prosecutions.

If it were the FTC I'd be concerned. But a merger which benefits employees would not be stopped by the DOJ.

The DOJ sure did approve that NWA/TPG/Midwest deal fast. I was surprised with that one.

 

[jonjuan]

Fins, I think by the fall it will be too late. An Obama DOJ is unlikely to approve of these sorts of huge mergers. They need Bush's DOJ to push this through.

You better be worried about what a McCain DOJ will do.

 

[Occam's Razor]

It is over for now. Press reports are that Delta's senior management has backed away from the table. The pilots are not meeting.

In that tense...you are 100% correct.

 

[JoeMerchant]

Fins, I think by the fall it will be too late. An Obama DOJ is unlikely to approve of these sorts of huge mergers. They need Bush's DOJ to push this through.

.....and how do you feel about that? The logic there is that they would be worried about the consumer....Isn't it in all of our best interests if some mergers go through and we get some pricing power back?

 

[~~~^~~~]

Joe:

The industry has not gone crazy with capacity as they have in years past. The NWA/DAL merger was not going to reduce capacity much. Most of the deal revolved around the ability to put Delta's good domestic and European/African/Middle East system with NorthWest's fleet, Asian system and pilots.

Open skies is another version of deregulation, on a Global scale. DAL/NWA was not your typical airline meger in as much as this was about getting in position for growth with the belief that we can connect the World (at least our part) better than BAL/AAL, Singapore, the Virgins, or Emirates.

Sure AirTran is running out of places to put 737's, but this expansion has limits which are more constrained by the cost of fuel. There is no such thing as a low cost carrier now, it is all high cost.

If Delta could get 50 777's and 1,500 pilots to fly them today, they probably would. I expect NWA is thinking the same thing with their 787's. A partnership between the two would provide the monetary resources to acquire the needed fleet and the people to get the job done.

Delta's international operations now bring in more cash in foriegn currencies than they do Dollars. Pricing power, sure, but when your costs are in Dollars and your revenues in Euros you enjoy a cost advantage as well.

 

[120% Torque]

I cant fault the Northwest guys for trying to get a good position in all this. Every person whos livelihood is on the line would try as well. My personal belief is there was just too much prior baggage from the Republic deal. Im sure that topic has been hashed and rehashed a million times by those directly affected for twenty years.

After that turmoil a pilot at Northwest would go into any new deal saying "never again, this time around we will clearly bargain to be on top". Really cant blame them. Its only human after having the perception of being screwed on a merger once. Kind of like trying to date a woman who has dated alot of guys who didnt treat her well. When you start dating her, in her mind you are guilty of being one of those guys until some point down the road when you can prove yourself otherwise. The Delta pilots (woman in this example) approached this potential merger with the same skepticism and prior hurt as that women. Poor analogy maybe but you get the idea. Not saying it was all Northwest pilots fault this didnt go through but I think their agenda was a little more aggresive to prevent "being screwed again" than was the Delta pilots. Just my two cents for what its worth. I have a feeling there will be some who dont agree with this and wont even think about what I just said before they jump into action about how it was the Delta pilots fault and Northwest guys were completely reasonable. Hopefully I am wrong.

Shame the pilots couldnt find middle ground. Would have been a very dominant global airline with what I am told lots of growth.

 

[Fly4hire]

Shame the pilots couldnt find middle ground. Would have been a very dominant global airline with what I am told lots of growth.

Me thinks this is far from over. 1st inning, and it's 0/0......