Delta And Northwest Airlines To Merge

[macuu222]

Looks like Delta will merge with Northwest and become the worlds largest airline. Also...Delta will keep the name and Northwest will lose theirs.

http://news.aol.com/business/story/_a/de...4609990001

[Kapohocat]

There are quite a few hoops still to jump through. The pilots have to agree also and the two companies have to find a way to make that group happy with the changes in seniority upon combining.

[JerryCarr]

My friend, the airline analyst back in Atlanta, says that the merger is being rushed through despite not having all the labor issues (mainly pilot seniority, but also a couple others) worked out. The reason is that NW and Delta worry that a Democratic Administration in 2009 would be far more likely to block the merger on anti-trust or other grounds. The same guy also thinks it will be approved because, of all the major airlines, these two have the least overlap of routes and thus the combination will result in the fewest city pair monopolies. Meanwhile, leading up to the merger, both are cutting domestic capacity in an effort to be able to raise fares and get out of unprofitable markets. There are indications that such trend will continue or even accellerate post merger. No work on what they plan to do in the Hawaii market, other than touting the number of combined flights they currently have from here to the Mainland.

Cheers,
Jerry

[macuu222]

The only impact on the Big island may be the daily Northwest Non-stop to Seattle from Kona. I don't believe that Delta flies here...although they do fly to Maui and Honolulu. I hope they keep the one in Kona.

[JerryCarr]

Delta has had on-again, off-again service from Kona to LAX the past two years. At its inauguration the service was daily, then it became seasonal, then it became only certain days of the week with the days of the week themselves being changed from time to time. By now, it may seasonal AND only certain days of the week for all I know. I booked it once, and they changed the schedule three times in the two months between the time I bought the ticket and the departure date. The last change was so untenable that they had to re-route me through Honolulu, so I lost the advantage of flying out of the Big Island and had to pay an interisland fare (very cheap at the time) to boot[!]. They did waive the change fee on the unusable ticket.

Cheers,
Jerry

[Bullwinkle]

united and continental are talking, jet blue and virgin are entering the pacific coast markets

I'm still pulling for dark horse virgin to pick up a few Hawaii gates ...

[Kapohocat]

How about jet blue - Hilo - Long beach?

Lower the landing fees and increase traffic.

Hilo pushed themselves right out of the market more than 20 years ago.

[Bullwinkle]

"Hilo to Long Beach" works for me!

I do have to say I have a prejudice against the airbus series aircraft though - jet blue and virgin both use the a320 I believe.

- almost died in one over the Yucatan as the "yaw damper failed. (circuit board) .. thing oscillated down from 30,000 to 10,000 ft, overhead baggage bin doors opening from the flex, beverage carts running amok ... a real e ticket ride. the air was "thick enough" at 10,000 feet to regain control... lucky us.... I never flew on one again .

The pilots in "scarebuses" are constrained by the electronics. "fly by wire" also means " computer verifies and overrides "faulty" human control input" there is very limited "direct control" a far cry from my day when everything was direct hydraulic input - that is why I still prefer the almost 40 year old 747 to anything flying today. ever notce they used to get us here in about 4 1/2 hours "in the day" now its 5 plus... a topic for another day - grin

as boeing is now following the airbus lead as to "fly by wire" ....

how about a passenger vessel? ... Hilo to long beach - grin