Delta(Prev.Bankrupt) To Buy Bankrupt AAirlines
Delta Tries to buy American Airlines
20 April 2012 News.com Austalia
SHARES of Delta Air Lines rose overnight after a report that the world's second-biggest airline may try to buy American Airlines' parent AMR Corp.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Delta and buyout firm TPG were separately looking at AMR, which is in the early stages of reorganising through the bankruptcy process.
Delta, AMR and TPG declined to comment.
Three big mergers since 2008 have helped the airline industry by reducing competition and making it easier to raise prices. In one of those deals, Delta bought Northwest.
American missed out on the merger mania and fell from first to third among the world's biggest airlines by passenger traffic.
US Airways Group Inc., which tried to buy Delta out of bankruptcy in 2006, is widely viewed as a possible bidder for AMR. US Airways declined to comment.
Delta shares rose 26 cents, or 3 per cent, to $US8.87 in afternoon trading after hitting $US8.98 earlier in the day. The stock has traded between $US6.41 and $US12.81 in the past 52 weeks.
Standard & Poor's airline analyst Jim Corridore doubts that regulators would let Delta buy American. He said the combined airline would be too big even if it sold some assets. Delta was briefly the world's biggest airline until United combined with Continental in 2010.
Corridore added that absorbing AMR "would be a big management distraction" for Delta.
Hunter Keay, an analyst for Wolfe Trahan & Co., said regulators might accept a Delta-American deal if Delta agreed to keep American's pension plans.
American is saddled with large debts and troubled labour relations. Still, it would be appealing to other airlines because of its size, customer base, and strength in major US and foreign markets, including Latin America.
It could be months before American's fate is clear. AMR management has the first chance to present a reorganisation plan to creditors, after which rivals could present proposals to creditors and the bankruptcy judge in New York.
Horton, who became AMR's CEO the day before it filed for bankruptcy, has indicated that he wants American to emerge from the process as an independent airline with lower costs.
AMR and several subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy protection Nov. 29 after posting $11 billion in losses since 2001. AMR was the only major U.S. airline to lose money in 2010 and is expected to report a loss for 2011. It has been hurt by heavy debt, high labour and pension costs, and an aging fleet of gas-guzzling planes.
END
What a joke these Airlines are, so many of them have gone bankrupt over the years and I cant understand why. They grossly overcharge Americans for flights and food and their luggage.
You can fly from London with a British airline to a US destination on a return ticket, for half the cost that the American airlines charge for the same journey. Those British tickets include all luggage, food, all drinks, pillows, toilet bags, newspapers, etc.
Bad management and greedy CEOs that have the huge bonuses in the US cause these problems. JMO
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