American Airlines, US Airways Merger Approved
An American Airlines and US Airways merger has officially been approved after previous reports that the companies were close to a deal.
The completed deal will create the world’s biggest airline.
American Airlines, who revealed a new look in January, will be the name kept after the merger. According to anonymous sources, current American Airlines’ CEO Tom Horton will become the company’s new chairman while US Airways CEO Doug Parker will run the business.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports the American Airlines and US Airways merger was approved late Wednesday.
According to the NY Daily News a merger has been in the works since last August. American Airlines has been restructuring since filing for bankruptcy protection in 2011. The idea of a merger with US Airways was given to the airline by creditors as an alternative to remaining independent.
The overall deal still has to be approved by American Airlines’ bankruptcy judge and antitrust regulators. After that, the new company will have a fleet of 900 aircrafts and a workforce of 95,000.
Those number will make the new American Airlines slightly larger than United Airlines.
US Airways CEO Doug Parker will have his work cut out for him. Before the merger, US Airways was roughly half the size of American Airlines, yet Parker is the one running the new business.
Parker taking over make sense though. American Airlines blamed bloated labor costs for going into bankruptcy, while its labor unions accused executives of mismanagement.
What do you think? Is the American Airlines merger with US Airways a good thing?
