You can call them vultures or you can call them smart corporate investors, but something in the air is circling Ame
rican Airlines parent company, AMR Corp in Dallas. In fact, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that just as American is going through the kind of financial reorganization that will allow it to emerge from Chapter 11, three rather large birds are circling its corporate campus. Delta Air Lines, which knows the feeling well, TPG Capital, and US Airways Group are all said to be interested in making bids for American. Industry insiders say that if it comes to it, a merger deal with US Airways is the most likely outcome. American will have to fight off these attempts as most airline analysts believe that American has a fighting chance if it can seriously trim routes and labor costs along with some luck in the price of fuel over the next decade.
American currently has 609 aircraft in service with 360 on order. Orders are, however, different than commitments, and AA has about 100 commitments presently with just under 500 new aircraft options. The airline clearly wants to replace the following aircraft currently in use:
All MD 80’s
757 – 200 Series
767 – 200 Series
