May 11--United Airlines is closing in on a merger with US Airways, sources say, after being spurned by Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
The combined carrier would be headquartered in Chicago, United's base and home to its largest airport hub, said a person familiar with the negotiations.
But United executives aren't expected to run the carrier, which would be the nation's second largest, slightly smaller than the proposed Delta-Northwest Airlines tie-up announced last month. Top duties are likely to be assumed by US Airways Chief Executive Doug Parker and its president, Scott Kirby, said people close to the Phoenix-based carrier.
Others caution that the management team's makeup and a host of other issues have yet to be sorted out and that an announcement isn't imminent.
The carriers have been down this path before. United and US Airways explored a merger in 1995 and went so far as announcing a deal in 2000, only to shelve it 14 months later amid a slowing economy and opposition from labor and regulatory officials.
As in 2000, United and US Airways are expected to shed assets in the Washington, D.C., market, where overlapping operations are likeliest to raise antitrust concerns. United is the dominant carrier at Washington Dulles International Airport; US Airways is the largest at capacity-constrained Reagan National Airport.
|
