Highlights from the DL/US congressional hearing

[737 Pylt]

Based on what I saw and heard, Mr. Parker thinks he's a lot smarter than he really is......

Mr. Mark Cooper
Director of Research
Consumer Federation of America
- Geographic mergers aren't bad (USAir/America West).
- Must not allow business concerns to hose the general public.
- Mergers will hose the consumer most of the time.


Mr. Gerald Grinstein
Chief Executive Officer
Delta Air Lines, Inc.
- Look at the employees behind me. They don't want it. (there were at least
50 DL pilots there plus many more front line employees....US Air had none)
- 10,000 jobs will be lost
- The LCC's aren't doing well. They won't add competition.
- USAir/America West worked because USAir was on the verge of going away and there was no route overlap. Delta/USAir differs since we aren't hurting and there is too much overlap.
- The last big merger proposed was USAir/United which was turned down as being anti-competitive. It had considerably less overlap than this one.
- All USAir is doing is trying to buyout their biggest competitor. Parker knows this!


Mr. Doug Parker
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
US Airways
- Bigger is better.
- A healthy network airline is good for everyone.
- Small communities will be better served by a bigger healthier airline. (the combined new airline will have over $24 billion in new debt. (DL has already shed its debt from $21 B down to less than $12 B. Less than United and American.)
- Question to Doug from Sen Stevens "Where do you buy your airplanes?" Answer: We haven't bought for a while, but we have Boeing and Airbus. Jerry pointed out we are all Boeing and they are 57% Airbus and buying the A350. Buy American eh?
- Too much debt isn't too bad since the new company will be so big.:laugh:
- We didn't want it to be a hostile takeover, but we need to do the best for our shareholders.
- We would use the Delta Chapter 11 to shed airplanes
(Parker is looking to shed nearly 200 airframes, but promises
no furloughs......Riiiiiiight!)
-Another question to Mr. Parker when asked by Senator If you have all this money to fund a hostile takeover, why can't you use this money to fund US Airways' pension, to which the people can be heard clapping and cheering, Mr. Parker responded, "its up to the PBGC now." (nice)

Mr. Robert Roach Jr.
General Vice President - Transportation
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

- No opinion on the USAir/Delta deal til the USAir/American West Deal is done
(what year might that be?)

Mr. Andrew B. Steinberg
Assistant Secretary for Aviation & Transportation Affairs
U.S. Department of Transportation
- Mergers are good and bad.
- Mergers are hard to pull off and don't have a good track record in the past.
- Fewer network carriers in general make for better service to small communities since they can eat the costs on other routes. However, when asked about the route map Doug brought, he didn't want to comment on the affect of the merger, but he said the map spoke for itself. (way too much overlap!)

Overall, Parker was less than impressive, and their stock slide is showing it. His ego of wanting to run the largest airline in the world is costing him and his company time and money.
DL is spending too much time and money trying to fend off this hostile takeover while time could be spent trying to get out of BK.

Just my .02

737

 

[FDJ2]

It was not a good day for Mr. Parker.:laugh:

 

[xanderman]

enough is enough

I imagine that DP is being pushed by the board to see this through but c'mon man it is starting to become clear this deal is not going to make it. Why can't Doogie just drop it already. I'm tired of all this crap. And I'm especially pissed that my MEC refuses to stand up against this rediculous idea. Other airlines are a far better choice (if you must merge with someone)... But that is just my lowly opinion.

Andy

 

[737 Pylt]

I imagine that DP is being pushed by the board to see this through but c'mon man it is starting to become clear this deal is not going to make it. Why can't Doogie just drop it already. I'm tired of all this crap. And I'm especially pissed that my MEC refuses to stand up against this rediculous idea. Other airlines are a far better choice (if you must merge with someone)... But that is just my lowly opinion.

Andy

Andy:
I agree. That being said, I think Parker should focus his energy on combining the two airlines he's already got instead of going after something that's likely not to happen! Think of all the time and $$ he's already pissed away!

737

 

[400ADude]

Just my .02

Yeah it's worth about 2 cents.

 

[Heavy Set]

I imagine that DP is being pushed by the board to see this through but c'mon man it is starting to become clear this deal is not going to make it. Why can't Doogie just drop it already. I'm tired of all this crap. And I'm especially pissed that my MEC refuses to stand up against this rediculous idea. Other airlines are a far better choice (if you must merge with someone)... But that is just my lowly opinion.

Andy

I think you would have liked the exchange with Parker and Sen Laudenberg (SP?). He asked Parker if USAir(AWA) had gone Bankrupt, then took Gov't money, and then dumped employee pensions. Parker responded YES. Then he asked Parker if he had money or cash for the deal with DL, to which Parker responded $5 billion in cash. Then the Senator asked why Parker didn't use the money to restore his company pensions for his fine employees? Parker stumbled and stated it was from investment banks. (which is true) But, the Senator could see that Parker was getting money he could have used to help his own hard working people keep their promised pensions. (something Delta is doing for most of their employees) Apparently the crowd in the hearing (many Delta pilots) started laughing and hollering after that question was asked, and they almost were thrown out. I bet Parker was sweating it big time. The Senator makes a point, which is take care of your own company first.

 

[737 Pylt]

It's the price of your career chucky! How's that f/a salary treating you? You better be careful, you're probably running out of email accounts to keep up those subscriptions, but then there's always those "special favors" your famous for!

737

WD, for your sake and the rest of the America West and USAIr guys I hope this whole thing doesn't go thru.

Thanks Whiskey! Lets hope this thing goes through sooner than later.

 

[400ADude]

It's the price of your career chucky! How's that f/a salary treating you? You better be careful, you're probably running out of email accounts to keep up those subscriptions, but then there's always those "special favors" your famous for!

737

http://www.sound-effect.com/sounds1/human/YAWN.wav

 

[737 Pylt]

WD, for your sake and the rest of the America West and USAIr guys I hope this whole thing doesn't go thru.

Thanks Whiskey! Lets hope this thing goes through sooner than later.

Enough said about ahole!

737

 

[xanderman]

same question, different people asking...

I think you would have liked the exchange with Parker and Sen Laudenberg (SP?). He asked Parker if USAir(AWA) had gone Bankrupt, then took Gov't money, and then dumped employee pensions. Parker responded YES. Then he asked Parker if he had money or cash for the deal with DL, to which Parker responded $5 billion in cash. Then the Senator asked why Parker didn't use the money to restore his company pensions for his fine employees? Parker stumbled and stated it was from investment banks. (which is true) But, the Senator could see that Parker was getting money he could have used to help his own hard working people keep their promised pensions. (something Delta is doing for most of their employees) Apparently the crowd in the hearing (many Delta pilots) started laughing and hollering after that question was asked, and they almost were thrown out. I bet Parker was sweating it big time. The Senator makes a point, which is take care of your own company first.

Our current negotiations have found the same answer from DP. We AWA/US are asking this very question, "How can you come up with this cash and stock for the DL merger yet tell the pilot group that the new contract must be cost neutral?" He has yet to give an honest answer in my opinion...
AWA/US pilots MUST see to it that this new contract reflects the reality of this current industry environment.:angryfire My most favorite quote from DP is this "You get what you negotiate."

Andy