Rather than just being a hiccup in the merger process, it seems the DoJ lawsuit may be more of a problem...
It's been exciting to think of the possibilities for Charlotte that could or might (and may yet still...) come about with a merger with AA, but I have to wax a bit logical in saying that Charlotte's
best chances would very likely be with a US Airways that remains independent, and one that hopefully would have the management skill and foresight to grow the airline from within and be competitive on its own. As it stands now, Charlotte is undoubtedly the primary operation for US Airways, and a very large one at that, and even if a merger with AA is good for US Airways, there is no clear proof that it would be for Charlotte; there's only hopeful optimism at best. Business executives make all sorts of great sounding overtures when they're in the throes of dealmaking, but very often afterwards the reality is something different. One very notable area of concern for a merged US/AA is Latin/South America and the huge presence of AA in Miami. With a merger going through, it's almost a foregone conclusion that the great strides Charlotte has made with US Airways in Latin and South America would eventually be overshadowed by the hub in Miami. The business case for maintaining separate US hubs for entry into Latin and South America is tenuous at best, and my guess is that Miami would likely be the hub of choice for these flights. While the cost of doing business within Charlotte may be cheaper than doing so in Miami, and even though Miami would never make a logical domestic hub, the large and profitable operation that AA has in Miami is where the center of gravity is for Latin and South America, so there's really no case for any, let alone all, of that transferring to Charlotte with such relatively small O&D numbers. European operations may prove somewhat better down the road for Charlotte with Philadelphia presenting US with some headaches recently with their very costly expansion ambitions, but then again, there would be several more US/AA hubs to compete with post-merger, so how that would pan out is anybody's guess.
Some contend that the fallout of a rejected US/AA merger is that US then becomes a sitting duck for the other two big airlines. Unless they wanted to be the king of all hypocrites, though, I can't see the DoJ allowing that considering their own arguments now about this being an issue of anti-competition. Again, I think if the merger is declined and US plays its cards right going forward, it could still be a successful, competitive airline that continues to pack quite a punch in and from Charlotte. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds...