US Airways+American Airlines merger is official

[Vash01]

This is not good news for those living in the Phoenix metro area, particularly those employed by US Airways. Slowly we are reduced to just 3 or 4 major airlines in the USA (United, Delta, American and Southwest).
No matter how much the CEOs deny it, a merger almost always results in layoffs in high numbers, while the stock holders gain. They make it sound so good when they merge, but we know what happens when corporations merge.

What bothers me is the bankrupt AA gets to keep its name while the successful US Airways loses its name, logo, and its head quarters in Phoenix. This is going to seriously impact the economy where I live, in a negative way.

http://www.azcentral.com/business/us...-official.html

My sympathies to the employees of US Airways, and probably to myself. I hated the tiny planes of American, United and Delta in the past. Now we are stuck with them forever, except when I fly Southwest (almost always, in mainland USA).

[skatemomaz]

I disagree. I've been in the industry for 35 years and I see this as a very good thing.

Mergers aren't necessarily a bad thing, when America West and USAirways merged, it saved a lot of jobs. Both carriers likely would not have survived without the merger. Just as US Airways was the surviving name (while America West was arguably the stronger carrier) American Airlines has the stronger name recognition around the world, so it makes sense that the merged airline retains name recognition. USAirways was headquartered in Crystal City and when we merged, they moved the headquarters to the America West location in PHX. From the start of the US/AA merger negotiations, it was made clear that the carrier would be called American and the headquarters would be in Dallas. PHX will still be a hub and the impact on the economy is likely to be more positive than negative. This has the potential to be a very good thing. Will there be layoffs? Probably, but not as massive as you seem to think.

We are pretty excited about it.

[vesperholly]

JetBlue is still pretty big, right? At least on the East Coast.

It's a shame Northwest merged with Delta. I always had good flights with Northwest. They also had the best freaking logo design ever.

[flyingsit]

I hate USAir with every fiber of my being, going back to when my father passed away and the dealings I had with them then. A customer service representative actually told me that I should have planned my trip for a different time of the year or with more notice. This after it was very clear to them that it was last minute travel due to my father's death at Christmas. So I am glad that their name will disappear.

[Vash01]

I hate USAir with every fiber of my being, going back to when my father passed away and the dealings I had with them then. A customer service representative actually told me that I should have planned my trip for a different time of the year or with more notice. This after it was very clear to them that it was last minute travel due to my father's death at Christmas. So I am glad that their name will disappear.

That was cruel of US Airways. No wonder you hate them. They are not really my favorite; I travel by Southwest whenever I can. Only when it's a trip abroad, I have to travel either United or US Airways. My experience with American Airlines was good loooong ago, but in recent years their service has been terrible.