United and US Airways Said to Be in Merger Talks

April 7, 2010, 5:04 pm

5:20 p.m. | Updated The UAL Corporation, the parent of United Airlines, and US Airways are in talks to merge, in a potential deal that would create one of the world’s largest airlines, people briefed on the matter told DealBook on Wednesday.

The negotiations mark the latest efforts to consolidate the struggling airline industry. Both companies have been vocal in calling for greater consolidation within the industry to help prop up falling revenues, with United’s chief executive, Glenn F. Tilton, among the leading proponents for more mergers.

“The investor seems to have spoken,” Mr. Tilton told The Financial Times in February. “The market seems to have suggested that scope and scale in a global business are important.”

United and US Airways are deep in their merger discussions, though a transaction is not expected to be announced for at least several weeks, these people said, cautioning that talks may still collapse. One potential hurdle could be union opposition.

<SNIP>http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/united-and-us-airways-hold-merger-talks/?hp

Yeah lets consolidate the airline industry, it's worked so well for everything else :eyes:

If you take United as much as I do...you know they will often sell US Air flights as United flights, and vice versa. From a points perspective, you can use your United points to buy a US Air flight, and vice versa.

US Airways hasn't even yet completely merged with America West. Their pilots belong to two separate and mutually hostile unions, and United's labor relations are already terrible. Should be interesting...