3. One of the limited bits of leverage that American s union can use in this bankruptcy case and the

On Tuesday, we referenced a Bloomberg story written by Mary Schlangenstein, who had gotten her hands on a letter than American and1 mix tape tour Airlines vice president of flight John Hale had written to senior executives.J
3. One of the limited bits of leverage that American s union can use in this bankruptcy case and they don t seem to have much leverage under the bankruptcy and1 mix tape tour code is to threaten American management with supporting a US Airways merger.
4. American has no friends on Wall Street right now because its stock is probably going to be worthless and anything and1 mix tape tour that boosts American will be to the detriment of the other airline companies that Wall Street continues to cover.
5. Wall Street would like a merger because excluding the fact that someone will get the investment banking fees, advisory fees, etc. a combined US Airways-American Airlines would be smaller than the two carriers operating separately, and less capacity means more pricing power for all airlines.
6. American s plan to boost its departures at its five cornerstone markets by 20 percent by 2017 brings horror to the hearts of analysts, because they see more capacity and less pricing power for the industry.
Several of your have asked me about how our pilots feel about consolidation and, in particular, the media coverage and chatter about US Airways and CEO Doug Parker s recent comments. I wanted to give you my view of how I think many of our pilots and1 mix tape tour feel about the topic.
In a recent WSJ interview, Mr. Parker talked about getting his hands on better assets, in his words, and said the American and1 mix tape tour bankruptcy might provide opportunities for us, presumably as a way to solve his airline and1 mix tape tour s challenges. Another report, based on unnamed sources, predicted potential merger synergies with no details about how they would be achieved, and1 mix tape tour and certainly no information about what that would really mean for our company and careers. While networks are important, I fully believe that what makes an airline successful especially in a merger is its people.
I ve been asking a lot of our pilots about their reaction to all of the speculation and I believe our pilots and1 mix tape tour have very serious concerns about a US takeover bid. Comments I heard recently include: there is no upside and lots of risk: US has a history of broken promises; operationally it offers us nothing; and it opens the door to even more long-term uncertainty and1 mix tape tour for pilots.
I know that pilots are enthusiastic about the prospect of growth inherent in our airplane deal, and that our orders for 460 narrowbody jets, up to 100 787s and 16 777s will finally and1 mix tape tour give them the career opportunities they have not seen for years. In fact, after the decade of hardship they and others at our company have experienced, it would be unthinkable to envision any other pilot aside from an American Airlines aviator flying and1 mix tape tour these new aircraft. and1 mix tape tour That s my personal view but I believe and1 mix tape tour many of our colleagues share it.
I ve also frequently heard it s foolhardy for US Airways to even talk about mergers and1 mix tape tour when it hasn t completed its last one. It is not lost on our pilots that the US Airways pilots have been working without a joint contract and without seniority integration for seven years. And it s not just a pilot versus pilot issue. Nor has it gone unnoticed that the flight attendants who are also still working under separate deals just overwhelmingly rejected yet another US Airways contract, once again illustrating the company s inability to integrate its workforces. Pilots have asked me how US would integrate a third layer of contracts and I ve honestly said I have no idea.
One could be led to believe that US has purposely remained on the sidelines during the myriad lawsuits USAPA East and West have filed against and1 mix tape tour one another. One reason might be that they are in no hurry to get a new pilot contract as their current pay rates are among the lowest of the mainline carriers.
and1 mix tape tour Make no mistake, our pilots expect a hostile approach from Phoenix, although they are also mindful that our exclusivity period to submit a plan of reorganization has been extended by six months with support and1 mix tape tour of the creditors committee. I m confident pilots will continue to be very skeptical about US s ability to integrate separate workforces or grow the combined company. The phrase all hat and no cattle comes to mind. There s little indication from anyone I ve spoken to that a takeover by US would produce greater opportunity for our pilots than American s business plan. However, we should not be surprised if there are continued public comments from the pilots union supportive of exploring a merger. There has been chatter among pilots that they would use US Air s overtures in an attempt to exert bargaining leverage during the 1113 process.
I support Mr. Horton s vision 100 percent and agree we should have the opportunity to get through restructuring and create the best possible outcome for all of our stakeholders, without interference from others. We deserve a chance to show how our plan can lead to growth for our pilots and a brighter future.
During this challenging time for our pilots, I ve encouraged them to stay focused on the job ahead, telling them to fly safe and take care of our passengers. And I ve been letting them know that we are working as hard as we can to return American to the top of the industry. As I ve said time and time again, I am proud to work with the best training and most professional pilots in our industry. And I am confident in our ability to move through this stage so we can emerge from restructuring soon and lead this great airline and1 mix tape tour to bigger and better and1 mix tape tour things in the future, please let me know.