Jan. 28--Announcement of a merger between US Airways and American Airlines now seems inevitable and is likely to happen within two weeks, Reuters and other airline watchers predict.
So what would such a move mean to Michigan travelers?
More expensive fares, probably, as the pool of airline choices shrinks further.
As we've seen with other recent mergers, less competition is bad for passengers. The U.S. is poised to have only four big airlines left, down from seven 3 years ago. Already gone are Northwest (swallowed by Delta) and Continental (gulped by United). Meanwhile, Southwest recently ingested smaller rival Air Tran and promptly raised prices on the Detroit-Atlanta Air Tran route. Jet Blue doesn't fly into Metro and uppity Spirit is comparatively tiny.
So, no. We're not going to see cheaper fares resulting from an American-US Airways merger. Probably the opposite.
On the other hand, American and US Airways are comparatively minor players at Detroit Metro Airport, which is about 80% dominated by Delta Air Lines. Travelers -- at least initially -- should not see huge route or schedule changes, because the airlines' routes do not overlap. US Airways flies about 30 non-stop flights per day from Detroit, with non-stops to Denver, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington Reagan (National). Meanwhile, American flies about 23 non-stop flights per day from Detroit, with non-stops to Chicago O'Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami and New York LaGuardia.
The new airline would be called American Airlines and be based in Fort Worth.
The merged airline would be the nation's largest, jumping ahead of United-Continental and Delta.
It's unknown what would happen to the frequent flier programs, American's AAdvantage Miles and US Airways' Dividend Miles. But as in other airline mergers, nobody's miles will be lost. They likely will be combined at a glacial pace into what the airline will tout as a vastly improved frequent flier program.
The merged airline likely would jilt Star Alliance, a global airlines alliance to which US Airways and United belong. That would wipe out the US Airways-United codeshare agreement familiar to Detroit travelers. Instead, it would be part of Oneworld alliance, a smaller alliance to which American belongs.
In the long run, I'd guess any merged airline would have to trim its number of network hubs, hurting some of those cities the way Memphis and Cincinnati have been hurt by Delta since its merger with Northwest in 2009. American's hubs are New York, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas/Fort Worth. US Airways' hubs are Phoenix, Philadelphia and Charlotte.
But as in any shotgun marriage, the parties just have to grit their teeth and go through with it. American is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and desperate for a partner to help it make money again. US Airways is the only legacy carrier still unwed. They're the last two at the church. They just have to say "I do."
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