United looking to unite but lacks partner
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Posted on: June 15th, 2007 by Jennifer Jones
| Officials at United Airlines have announced that they are very interested in finding a partner airline to work with. The airline’s chief financial officer, Jake Brace, said Wednesday that United would prefer to partner with an airline with a hub in America’s south and a strong presence in the Northeast.
Brace said the airline was only interested in merging with a willing company and would not consider initiating a hostile take over. “Consolidation is not something that one company can do in isolation,” he said at the Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference in New York. “We don’t believe that … hostiles in the airline industry are very successful. Our belief is that you have to do something on a consensual basis.” With the company coming out of a three year bankruptcy restructuring, United may not be in the best position to be initiating a merger. In fact, it wasn’t long ago that other airlines were eying up United and thinking about swallowing it whole. United has emerged from its financial difficulties more stable than ever. Possible candidates for a future merger with United are Delta, Continental and US Airways. One airline consultant favored Delta as the most likely of the three. www.united.com |