UAL is keeping Tilton from his golf course... C'mon, the guy used to work for Chevron (oil) where everyone is making HUGE money and he probably misses that.
Tilton wants out. Parker wants to stay in for now. Personally, I don't know why anyone would want to merge with UAL at the moment because it is basically a listing ship:
1. No growth plan (no new airplanes coming on line)
2. No innovative strategy
3. Losing market share to the LCCs (i.e., SWA in Denver)
4. Inefficient fleet very susceptible to oil cost swings (like most legacies)
Exactly how will USAirways benefit from that combination? USAirways and UAL have similar European route profiles - so, they are just adding more domestic capacity which is already threatened by the LCCs. At least DAL and NWA offer complementary international route systems (to offset domestic pricing issues).
Their hubs also seem to overlap in a few key areas (i.e., IAD and DCA and some of the West Coast). I think this situation will result in a blood bath with many cut jobs to reduce overall costs. The point is this: if revenues can't increase too much due to intense domestic competition (SWA, VA, JB and AirTran), costs are going to have to be brought down to provide for a chance for some profit...