Skift Take
Ahles' story points out the obvious speed bump for AMR's leaders: If they merged with US Airways their executive team would likely be gutted.
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="350"] Planes on the tarmac at Las Vegas' McCarran airport. Photo by gTarded.[/caption]
Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Author: Andrea Ahles
After months of going solo, American Airlines' parent, AMR Corp., is looking for a someone to dance with.
The only problem for the Fort Worth company is that there may be only one airline available, industry analysts say.
"American is the dance partner that hasn't found anyone to go home with yet," said Ken Malek, managing director at Conway MacKenzie, a financial turnaround and crisis management firm. "The other attractive partners are already taken."
Last week, CEO Tom Horton announced that AMR, which filed for bankruptcy in November, would begin considering merger scenarios in addition to its stand-alone restructuring plan.
"It is at this juncture that it now makes sense to carefully evaluate a range of strategic options, including potential mergers, which could make the new American even stronger," Horton told employees.
In a meeting with its unsecured creditors committee, American outlined merger scenarios with US Airways, JetBlue Airways, Virgin America, Frontier Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
But analysts say only one makes sense. That's US Airways, which has been publicly discussing a merger with AMR with the media and creditors and has gained the support of American's three largest unions.
"Neither of those airlines need to merge to survive," said aviation consultant Mike Boyd of Boyd Group Internati
