US airways has announced a $55 million profit (excluding special items, etc) vs American Airlines’ $8 million profit (excluding special items) and that’s coming from an inferior network and an airline that is roughly 1/3 the size of American Airlines.

This is great for US Airways, great affirmation for the team that will run the new American Airlines and I do wonder when these folks will get this merger done.  My best guess is October but they’ll suitably impress me if they get it consummated by September.

This merger integration will be fascinating to watch in comparison to the Delta/Northwest and Continental/United mergers.  US Airways CEO Doug Parker and his team all have merger integration experience but none have experience with the scale that the new airline will possess.  It will be hard for them to balance the pull of the AA insitutionalization with the attraction to adopting the US Airways Way.

What I most look forward to is seeing the new airline about 18 months after the merger deal is closed.  I want to see how the AA network is reorganized and made to work by the US Airways team and Robert Isom in particular.

Filed under: Airline News, Mergers and Bankruptcy by ajax