jme3

What a sublime coup for Charlotte, and indeed the state. Charlotte packs far more punch per square mile of city than probably any other in the nation and of all the great things it has going for it, these are four more. On the chance that US and AA are not allowed to merge, hopefully these steps at growing the airline from within will prove successful both short and long term. And IF they don't merge, I can't help but think the same logic the government uses to keep US and AA apart would also prevent some other airline from making a move for US separately, thus keeping US independent and Charlotte at their forefront. Whatever the ultimate outcome, this is great news to be sure.

When looked at that way, there's the possibility then that the bulk of a future AA would be concentrated between Dallas and Charlotte, Miami's Latin interests not included...??

I certainly hope that you're right. Although I don't live in Charlotte, it goes without saying that the entire state of NC and really, most of the eastern US, benefit a great deal from the options presented by Charlotte as a hub. But with the addition of the more heavily O&D oriented cities that are hubs within the AA network, it's really hard, for me anyway, to imagine that Charlotte would present a more favorable option for them in terms of expanded international service, making Charlotte the powerhouse international hub that city boosters would like to see materialize. I do think that Charlotte would continue to be a strong southeastern hub for domestic service, but with all those other hubs in the system that generate far more O&D traffic, I just don't see Charlotte competing very well. At the end of the day, anything at all is possible in the world we live in, and Doug Parker may indeed have a very soft spot in his heart for Charlotte. But Dallas, New York, Chicago and L.A. are pretty hefty competition when it comes to moving people and generating money. If US winds up on its own after all this is over, the very best chance it will have of surviving and growing to see a distant future will be to provide the kind of service that the big three are well known now for not providing. US will have to make itself the airline that everyone wants to fly on and then US and Charlotte both can enjoy some further prosperity.

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...

^Thanks for that explanation. I am admittedly not an expert on the economics of running an airline, but to my way of thinking it just seems logical that an airline, if saddled with high costs, would look for a less-costly locale for doing business as opposed to one with fundamentally high costs. I've made a stop or two over at airliners.net and the reasoning there blows my mind, e.g. Miami making for a better domestic hub than Charlotte. Go figure! :lol

It seems that many of those who post on airliners.net are armchair experts at best, and a lot of them are "fanboy" kids who have dreams of their favorite airline or city dominating the world, so they use all kinds of circuitous logic to support their theories... I'm curious, though, as you have expressed concerns about US Airways' and AA's (potentially rising) costs having some sort of impact on Charlotte Douglas. What would either of those have to do with what it costs to do business at Charlotte? The cost of business at the airport is a direct result of how efficiently and effectively the airport is run from within and not the internal workings of the airlines themselves which Douglas has no influence over, no?

The A.net website is generally a collection of armchair experts who root for their favorite airline and/or city. Charlotte, not surprisingly, gets its share of criticism from fans or residents of the larger cities, and perhaps also a bit of envy for having such an aviation presence for a city of its size. I've seen comments both pro and con, but as you've stated, the general consensus seems to be that Charlotte will at least keep the status quo. Those who argue that it won't (or shouldn't) seem to come from the belief that Charlotte's O&D traffic does not justify having such a large operation when, in fact, one could make the very same argument about Atlanta. Charlotte offers the new AA advantages that are greater than just the sum of its O&D numbers. If the current debacle between the city of Charlotte and those who want to redirect the airport's oversight can be resolved favorably, and if Charlotte continues to provide the considerable advantages in the cost of doing business that it has traditionally provided, Charlotte should remain a very large operation for the new AA, second only to DFW. Whatever one might think of Jerry Orr personally, I believe he has been a very good steward of Charlotte's growth, with those benefits flowing not only to Charlotte, but also to the whole state of NC.

The A350 is Airbus's grudging confirmation that Boeing's strategy has been correct all along. The A380 it would seem is an albatross for Airbus and was ultimately not a sound strategy to address where the market was or the direction it was headed but was rather only a vain attempt to dethrone Boeing. Very large airplanes are nothing truly exceptional and are certainly nothing out of reach of America's capabilities; if the feasibility of size itself was the achievement then America beat the world to that punch with the Lockheed C5 Galaxy (albeit a military plane) decades ago so there's nothing new under the sun. So as the market has confirmed, once again Boeing is the pacesetter with the 787 and Airbus with the A350 is a day late and a dollar short. Or to be more precise by the time it actually hits the market, will be several years late and with billions spent playing catch up.