acl65pilot

I always thought our JFK terminal upgrades were great for the international stuff, but wondered what we would do for the domestic. AMR buying B6 or us, takes care of phase two of the terminal upgrades with B6's terminal to be used as a domestic terminal.

acl65pilot

For an airline like LUV/AAI they need more than one fleet type. Not sure if they will go with the 717 since it is something that AAI has been looking to off load for some time. I suspect they may go after some larger 73Ns. Might see a 787 order from them in the next three years as well.

This move made LUV an International carrier. I am sure that was a lot of their reasoning for buying AAI. Also, LUV will now serve DFW....AMR is probably spiking their coffee this morning. If I were them I would be announcing something NLT than mid Oct.

JABDIP

Does this make AS a viable purchase for AA???

DAL4EVER

The airframe and systems may be great but they were having major problems with the BMW engines having very low TBO's rather recently. I'm not sure if they've solved those problems but they were extremely low TBO's compared with GE, Pratt and Aero. Even though we arguably have the best engine shop in the world I think that's a big reason the company has had reservations with the type.

Bucking Bar

Southwest really does an excellent job once they decide to take a city. Has anyone been to Denver lately? For every two panhandlers there is a Southwest employee on the street corner telling you how much Southwest LUV is aimed at Denver.

Delta is an excellent airline with weakness where they've outsourced to save a buck. I don't just mean DCI, I mean DGS.

We also need to start promoting our brand vigorously as we serve passengers, help old folks up the jetway, make our PA's and fly our jets. Anyone show does not see Southwest for what it is stands to lose.

I hope we buy Hawaiian

DAL4EVER

Them or us. Just look at the remaining smaller carriers left as ACL pointed out earlier. JBLU, HAI, AS, NKS and Virgin are really the only ones left. AS would be tops, JBLU for the fleet and NYC presence, HAI would fit DAL with the fleet types and ability to connect Asia to all points south. NKS has the South American and Caribbean routes with Airbus a/c. Virgin is the question. Big enough to warrant attention but are they worth the effort? Time will tell.

acl65pilot

Bar;
Look at LUV's presence in SLC. DAL is doing a very good job there proving that they have long since learned how to deal with the "Red Bellied War Birds."

MSP is another good example.

UAUA let them come in because they were too busy looking that their own feet.

acl65pilot

It does, but AMR also needs another operator with an international presence. LLC comes to mind for the Atlantic, and MKS for SA.

If AMR does beat out DAL for AS, DAL will either have to buy Virgin to compete out there or buy a ton of jets. We need to feed our flights.

So, as I see it we get AS or AMR gets AS and we are forced in to buying B6 and putting half of their jets out west to feed our Asia flights, or we buy Virgin America and let them feed our Asia flights.

My bet is on that DAL has a case for the "need' to buy AS since they feed more flying for us that AMR. If we win that, AMR will need to buy NKS, and LLC. Virgin will cease to exist.

What we are seeing is what should have happened after Deregulation. Large carriers with broad scope. What we are seeing now is in the long run very good for the airlines and their pilots. We will be able to easily kill upstarts because we have the versatility of our fleets and route networks to move assets and truly drive them out of business.

An interesting day all around.

Domino two.

acl65pilot

I also see RJET trying to get bought by a major too, but I presume no one will take the bait.

tsquare

Pretty sure that will kill this thread dead...