U.S. Airline Merger Predictions

[Dizel8]

Sorry Sergeant, but DAL will not be buying jetblue!

 

[crashpad]

Standby for exciting news from Frontier!!!

 

[Plug]

I think you will see CAL acquire Alaska before a UAL merger.

 

[Heavy Set]

Sorry Sergeant, but DAL will not be buying jetblue!

You better hope not, or you will be at the bottom of a very big stack, and the SARGE will be your captain.


But maybe they will just buy your terminal and your E190s?

From that article posted by GL:



"Mr. Bastian said the airline expects to generate $5 billion of free cash in each of the next three years. Top priorities at the airline will be to update its fleet of aircraft, improve facilities in New York -- which is its second-largest hub airport after Atlanta -- and improve operations at its Delta Connections unit, Mr. Bastian said.

In particular, Delta is looking at buying new Boeing 787 aircraft. While Boeing is sold out of that aircraft model for the first few years of production, Mr. Bastian said Delta, as a top customer of Boeing, likely has some wiggle room for acquiring aircraft.

Mr. Bastian said Delta has completed plans for a long-term strategy at JFK International airport in New York City, but the airline "needs to be looking at alternatives" to its current facilities there, as competition heats up from other airlines. Delta's goal is to generate sustained profitability in the New York market, while holding the biggest market share at JFK and LaGuardia airports combined."

 

[Dizel8]

Sorry, but arguing on the internet...........you get the rest.

Enjoy!

 

[L'il J.Seinfeld]

Delta is lucky to be a stand alone airline. They are in no position to make a bid for anyone. It is more likely that Jetblue would buy Delta than vice versa. Does the fact that Delta is still bankrupt mean anything to anyone? Woud Congress or lenders have confidence in the management at Delta to run a merged airline? No way.

There are not 6 legacies. There are only 5. US Air is really America West as they only kept the US Air name for marketing reasons when America West took them over.

Open Skies is going to kill you pax pilots, but it seems you all have your head in the sand. There are no foreign competition for FDX and UPS except for DHL. But there are plenty of foreign airlines that would operate a lot cheaper than US passenger carriers could. The principle lobbyists for Open Skies from the US side has been UPS and FDX to a lesser degree.

Delta a top customer of Boeing!!?? Not in this century.

Nobody knows the future, but basing a forecast on a guess is ridiculous. I think it is more likely for Delta to be back in bankruptcy and liquidated or acquired by the new US Air in the next couple of years than for them to be merged.

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

Currently, and especially in the next 10 years, open skies WOULDN'T hurt PAX guys, as the European/Asian carriers don't have enough pilots to carry their OWN PAX, not to mention adding a whole bunch of new American PAX.

cliff
YIP

 

[Beetle007]

Delta is "lucky" to have Richard Anderson on their board of directors. He is a class act and I think he actually cares about employees.

 

[FDJ2]

Delta is lucky to be a stand alone airline. They are in no position to make a bid for anyone.

Actually, DAL is in an excellent position to purchase assets. DAL has one of the best balance sheets among the network carriers, $3.7B in cash, $2.7B unrestricted, one of the lowest CASMs among the legacy carriers and Wallstreet jumped all over itself to lend DAL exit financing.

However, I don't expect DAL to acquire any carriers in the near future. Perhaps an asset acquisition, but not an all out merger/acquisition.

 

[Spectre]

You better hope not, or you will be at the bottom of a very big stack, and the SARGE will be your captain.


But maybe they will just buy your terminal and your E190s?

From that article posted by GL:



"Mr. Bastian said the airline expects to generate $5 billion of free cash in each of the next three years. Top priorities at the airline will be to update its fleet of aircraft, improve facilities in New York -- which is its second-largest hub airport after Atlanta -- and improve operations at its Delta Connections unit, Mr. Bastian said.

In particular, Delta is looking at buying new Boeing 787 aircraft. While Boeing is sold out of that aircraft model for the first few years of production, Mr. Bastian said Delta, as a top customer of Boeing, likely has some wiggle room for acquiring aircraft.

Mr. Bastian said Delta has completed plans for a long-term strategy at JFK International airport in New York City, but the airline "needs to be looking at alternatives" to its current facilities there, as competition heats up from other airlines. Delta's goal is to generate sustained profitability in the New York market, while holding the biggest market share at JFK and LaGuardia airports combined."

Sorry to rain on your parade. Here's a couple of poison pills JetBlue had already had in mind for any such acquisition. First, the space between the gates at JetBlue's new JFK terminal are too narrow for any widebody aircraft. Any structural changes would cost millions and would outweigh simple renovations at Delta's old JFK terminals. Second, and soon to be out on the press is new pilot contract language that would make any acquisition of JetBlue too costly, ie. 5 years pay to each pilot or $500,000 whichever is greater...Lastly, you have New York Senators and Congressmen who will block any acquisition of New York's hometown airline.