Will delta and virgin America eventually merge?

[i fly boxes]

With this joint venture between delta and virgin Atlantic approved and already code shared. What does this mean for delta and virgin America? If they combined that would give delta more west coast presence and a young airbus fleet.

 

[bri5150]

Guess not.

 

[MCDU]

I hope they do and that they use relative seniority. Virgin is hiring and has short upgrades, while Delta has not hired and has a long upgrade time. All factors an arbitraitor factors in. I suggest using Nicolau.

M

 

[General Lee]

I hope they do and that they use relative seniority. Virgin is hiring and has short upgrades, while Delta has not hired and has a long upgrade time. All factors an arbitraitor factors in. I suggest using Nicolau.

M

Especially if Virgin America comes in and saves Delta financially from liquidation. Also agree since VA has almost the same fleet. If everyone agrees to the arbitration, then that award would eventually happen, because people who agree to something initially and then back out after seeing the award are total jerks and lack integrity. Sounds fantastic!


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Dan Roman]

General..... 1
MCDU....... 0

 

[MCDU]

General..... 1
MCDU....... 0

Dan.. Idiot
General.. Bigger Idiot

M

 

[Flybywire44]

I still think DAL and Alaska will merge.

 

[Cornelius]

I fly boxes, you must have a medicinal marijuana card, or you need one.

 

[xjhawk]

why would Delta want to merge with Alaska? Alaska has no scope and Delta can sell seats via code share on Alaska. Alaska can farm out all the flying it wants to .....lets just say 100 seaters to Skywest for cheap and Delta can sell tickets on it. If they merger with Delta, Alaska pilots get pay raises and scope. wont happen.

 

[NEDude]

Before IPO - No. After IPO - anything could happen.

That being said, I do not think VX has much value to any of the legacy carriers. IMHO I think a merger between VX and JetBlue would be more likely. But that is just pure speculation on my part, not based on anything I have heard.

 

[General Lee]

why would Delta want to merge with Alaska? Alaska has no scope and Delta can sell seats via code share on Alaska. Alaska can farm out all the flying it wants to .....lets just say 100 seaters to Skywest for cheap and Delta can sell tickets on it. If they merger with Delta, Alaska pilots get pay raises and scope. wont happen.

No, the only exception in the current contract is the "Frontier" exception, owned by Republic. Other than Frontier planes(notice no codeshares with Frontier) no regional flying any planes for DL can have planes larger than 76 seats. So, SKW cannot fly 100 seaters for AK, or they lose a lot of feed.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[clickclickboom]

If jb merged with va i would be completely convinced jb management was retarded. What in the world would va even begin to offer other than continuous losses and excess capacity on some of the most highly contested domestic markets in existence

 

[Flyer1015]

If jb merged with va i would be completely convinced jb management was retarded. What in the world would va even begin to offer other than continuous losses and excess capacity on some of the most highly contested domestic markets in existence

Meh, like Southwest and AirTran, why bother when you know the 717s won't stay and all you're really getting is ~ 40 737s and an ATL base? It takes one big competitor out of the picture and strengthens them to compete better with others. The legacy consolidation is all done, next up is the LCC level. Amongst VX, NK, B6, F9, and Allegiant, VX and B6 have the most in common fleet and product offering.

 

[Flyer1015]

As NEDude stated, there won't be any merger prior to IPO. After the IPO once VX is public, anything goes.

 

[NEDude]

If jb merged with va i would be completely convinced jb management was retarded. What in the world would va even begin to offer other than continuous losses and excess capacity on some of the most highly contested domestic markets in existence

VX has been operationally profitable over the past year (June 2012-June 2013). There will be a net profit posted for Q2 and most likely for Q3 as well. The business plan required 50 airplanes to become profitable. VX has crossed the 50 airplane threshold and the financials have crossed the profitability line as well.

Some of the markets may be the most highly contested, but that does not mean there is not any more money to be made. LAX-EWR is already one of our most profitable routes (#2 behind SFO-DCA is what I heard last week).

Here is what VX has to offer: More presence for smaller carriers in prominent markets where the barriers to entry are very high. VX will be getting an eighth gate in SFO in August. VX has seven or eight gates in LAX (LAX being the highest O&D airport in the country). VX has a coveted non-perimeter slot in DCA. A merger with VX guarantees the merging airline access to those hard to acquire assets, whereas leaving it to the "open" market (if VX were to disappear) would leave an LCC having to fight with American, Delta, United, Alaska and SWA for the remains.

 

[bri5150]

Don't forget the EWR slots adding value. It took us five fricken years to get them. They must be worth something!!