The CEOs of United Airlines and US Airways met on Thursday, a person with knowledge of the meeting said, but there was no immediate announcement by either side on the status of efforts to combine the two carriers.
The New York Times reported on Thursday night that Glenn Tilton of UAL Corp’s United informed Doug Parker of US Airways Group Inc at the meeting that United had decided not to continue the merger talks.
The report, citing unidentified sources said to have direct knowledge of the situation, said the airlines were expected to announce yesterday that the discussions had ended.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed people familiar with the situation, also reported that Tilton told Parker that talks were suspended for now and that United is near an alliance agreement with Continental Airlines Inc.
Both United and US Airways declined to comment and would not even confirm that the meeting took place.
Tilton and Parker have been communicating about a potential deal for more than two months. Word of plans for their latest meeting drew extra interest following earlier reports that the talks appeared to have broken off.
No other details emerged immediately about the meeting, which took place in an undisclosed location. The person who told The Associated Press that the meeting took place was not authorized to discuss the talks and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Labor and financing issues have complicated the exploratory talks, which intensified last month following the agreement to combine Delta Air Lines Inc and Northwest Airlines Corp, and Continental’s decision not to pursue a merger with United.
But Continental left the door open to an alliance, in which the companies would work together in many ways but not merge their operations. It would provide a way for them to set pricing and schedules and increase revenue without the integration problems and antitrust scrutiny that come with formal consolidation.
Even if Tilton and Parker were to agree on a plan, it would still have to be approved by the companies’ boards of directors.
Financial pressures on the airlines are growing. Fitch Ratings pushed its credit rating on US Airways deeper into junk territory and cut its outlook on both carriers on Thursday because of concerns over rising fuel prices.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS