While some companies are ‘too big to fail’, others are seen as ‘too big to succeed’ – like the proposed merger of US Airways and United Airlines.
The headline for this edition of ‘It Happened This Week’ is: ‘Proposed United – US Airways merger raises questions north of the border’
Back when the deal was first announced, United Airlines was the largest airline in the U.S., and US Airways was a major carrier in its own right, ranked sixth.
As the Travelweek story notes, UAL Corp., parent company of United, was aiming to buy most of US Airways Group in the US$11.6 billion deal, including $3.4 billion in cash and $7.3 billion in debt and leases.
There were immediate concerns from federal regulators, not to mention unions, and consumer advocate groups.
As part of the deal, United said it would not lower domestic base commission rates for two years.
Travelweek also noted: “That could cause some confusion for Canadian agents, as calls to both carriers revealed that while United considers Canada ‘international’, for US Airways, Canada “is in most respects considered domestic, according to a spokesperson at US Airways’ Toronto sales office.”
The deal faltered, and just over a year after this story ran, UAL withdrew its offer. Interestingly enough, while the UAL – US Airways deal never got the green light, US Airways ultimately merged with American Airlines just over a decade after the UAL – US Airways deal fell through.
Did the United – US Airways headline appear in Travelweek in 1984, 1991 or 2000?
Fill out the contest form below, with your guess and your email address. We’ll announce the answer and the winner next week, along with the next contest headline. Last week’s headline about the U.S. Department of Transportation’s approval of IATA’s NDC ran in May 2014. Our winner for Week #13 is Derek Paquette from Marlin Travel in Saskatoon. Congratulations Derek!
Every Wednesday in Travelweek Daily, we’re posting an article from Travelweek’s archives, spanning the years 1973 – 2023. Guess the correct year the story ran, and you could win a $50 Amazon gift card. There’s a new headline and a new chance to win every single week.
