Hello, AVT 422:

The blog topic for this week (February 20) is:

The Merger of American Airlines and US Airways

http://avt422winter2013.blogspot.com

On February 13, 2013, the boards of both American Airlines and US Airways approved a deal to merge the two airlines. Although the merger is not official until it goes through several additional approval processes (including a bankruptcy judge, shareholders and the Justice Department), it is likely that the merger will pass these steps.

Please answer the following questions.  Include at least four references in your blog.

A.  How do you think this merger will affect the consumer? There are two sides:

1. Larger, consolidated airlines have the ability to provide better service, amenities and connections, therefore, the merger will benefit the consumer.
2. While (1) may be true, travelers care less about benefits and more about their bottom line.  This merger will decrease competition, and therefore, raise ticket prices. Explain your reasoning. 

B.  One of the biggest concerns of the pilot force in a merger is how the seniority list is going to be merged. US Airways and America West merged in 2005 and their new pilot seniority list is still in dispute. Why? What are some of the reasons that this list is so important and what are the concerns when merging a seniority list? There is currently not an “industry standard” for this.  If you were in charge of creating an industry standard for a merged pilot seniority list what would it be and what factors would it take into consideration. You may want to research previous mergers to answer this question.

C.  One of the specific steps in the merger process is review by the Justice Department’s antitrust division. Why is this a step? What does the antitrust division do? The prediction is that this division will approve the merger and four US carriers will then control 70% of the domestic market. The big questions are, how will this affect your career (flying or management) and why?

Grading criteria for this blog post will be as follows:

Question A…………………………………………….....5 points

Question B…………………………………………….....5 points

Question C…………………………………………….....5 points

Appropriate references and citations…………......….4 points

Grammar and Style……………………………...……...5 points

Three significant comments on other blogs………....6 points

Total…………………………………………………….30 points

Do not forget the following:

1.  Address each question fully to receive full credit.

2.  Include references and links to support your topic. 

3.  Cite your sources, using APA formatting, at the bottom of your posting. 

4.  Please proofread your work.

5.  Upload your comments to the Dropbox.

Your post is due by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday evening, February 17.

Comments are due by the start of class on February 20.

Have fun,

Dr. Tartalone