Integrating AAI into SWA

[redflyer65]

Their new contract just brought them a lot closer to you guys.

HA HA. Now that's funny. You obviously have no clue.

Just talked to one of our senior FO's that will make 200k this year. Not even the same ballpark, or the same city for that matter.

 

[redflyer65]

The financials at AAI does show they had too much debt for the operation. Reporting a small profit each quarter is good, but if you have a big debt overhang it doesn't help much. The debt side will catch up to you eventually.

There was only one main reason for the purchase of AAI plain and simple..

To eliminate a competitor. The rest is all smoke and mirrors.

 

[SWA/FO]

The financials at AAI does show they had too much debt for the operation. Reporting a small profit each quarter is good, but if you have a big debt overhang it doesn't help much. The debt side will catch up to you eventually.

Dats da point SWA/FO was making. Cash is KING!

 

[Lear70]

There was only one main reason for the purchase of AAI plain and simple..

To eliminate a competitor. The rest is all smoke and mirrors.

That's about the only thing I agree with you on. Southwest purchased a viable and thriving operator to eliminate an aggressive competitor. Once the integration is complete, we can all get together on kicking aviation industry butt... :beer:

 

[redflyer65]

The long term viablility of Airtran, I'm not so sure..

The last sentence...Definitely.

 

[GuppyWN]

Is it true the Airtran TA has a provision that your pay raises are eliminated if the SWA deal blows up?

Gup

 

[waveflyer]

I have more to lose than most of you- being close to the bottom, and expect a favorable SLI bc we're much stronger and bought them-
But, to say that AT wasn't viable is really dumb- theyrethe one carrier that holds their own on costs with us- and give us ATL giftwrapped which helps our entire network immensely-
That kind of rhetoric is what convinced the East to go the route they did - they got convinced that it was the west who wasn't viable- and it was all made up fantasy- yet they made big decisions that hurt the whole industry based on that- argue your point- and I do- it ought to be slanted toward SWA bc the jobs aren't equal- but to not recognize how eliminating this competitor and joining forces w/ AT is very valuable to us is ridiculous.
Welcome aboard- and keep that 10%er crap within the 10%- it's really not anywhere else from what I see

 

[ivauir]

But, to say that AT wasn't viable is really dumb- theyrethe one carrier that holds their own on costs with us- and give us ATL giftwrapped which helps our entire network immensely-

One of the things that seems to have been lost in this mess is that AT bent over backwards to avoided competing head to head with us. AT was/is rapidly running out of places to grow without facing us head on. This acquisition is going to create growth that neither pilot group would have otherwise seen.

How much growth are they predicting in ATL? That ain't happening for anyone without the acquisition.

 

[Ty Webb]

Is it true the Airtran TA has a provision that your pay raises are eliminated if the SWA deal blows up?

Gup

Heya, Gup-

No, there is no such provision. I read the whole thing from cover to cover and there is no reference to SWA whatsoever. We (Pilots) wanted to include a provision where sections would re-open in the event the merger fell through, but it was to get the better rates we deserve, not to go backwards.

The Pilots settled for lower rates than we would have (especially on the Capt side) because the leverage of striking was gone. For example, a 10th yr CA got a lousy 8% raise after 5.5 years of negotiations, instead of the 15% or more we should have gotten. No way would we have settled for that if we could have been released by the NMB.

 

[Ty Webb]

The financials at AAI does show they had too much debt for the operation.

Red, when I started here, we had more debt, much less cash, and were paying 11-13% interest. We almost tripled in size since then, and now have (as a percentage) less debt, more cash and the debt we do have is at closer to 5% interest. The pendulum was swinging with us, not against us. That's why SWA stepped up, otherwise they would have sat back and waited.