Copyright 2000 Times Publishing Company
St.
Petersburg Times
May 24, 2000, Wednesday, 0 South Pinellas
Edition
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 690 words
HEADLINE:
United snapping up US Airways
BYLINE: BILL ADAIR; JEAN
HELLER; STEVE HUETTEL
BODY:
GOOD FIT FOR
TAMPA: With little overlap between the airlines, TIA travelers shouldn't see
many changes.
The merger of US Airways and United
Airlines could create a global powerhouse, but don't ex-pect a big
change in Tampa.
US Airways is the second-larg-est airline in Tampa,
carrying about 20 percent of the airport's passengers. United has a small
presence, accounting for about 5 percent. It's likely that the com-bined airline
would merely solidify itself as TIA's biggest airline. Both globally and from
Tampa's perspective, the merger would be a good fit.
United flies
primarily east-west, through its hubs in Chicago and Denver. US Airways is
mostly a north-south airline along the East Coast. That means there are
relatively few cities where they have competing service.
"I think this
should be a very good marriage," said Louis Miller, executive director of
the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, which runs the Tampa airport. "It
makes sense."
The lack of competing routes also means it's likely that
Tampa would not have a drastic change in service. The combined airline would
probably fly to the same cities the two carriers now serve.
"For a place
like Tampa, you won't see much change," said Darryl Jenkins, a professor of
airline economics at George Washington University in Washington.
The two
airlines' Tampa routes overlap only in service to Washington's Dulles
International, where United has three daily non-stops and US
Airways' low-fare arm, Metrojet, has two.
The biggest change is
likely to be on flights to and from Reagan National Airport in Washington.
United and US Airways are expected to announce today that many of US Airways
Reagan National flights will be taken over by a new airline operated by Robert
Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television.
However, US
Airways has only two flights from Tampa to Reagan National every day,
representing only 2 percent of the 84 daily jet and commuter flights in Tampa.
The news about the proposed merger surprised many US Airways employees
in the Tampa Bay area. Many are survivors of the company's previous mergers with
Piedmont, Allegheny and Pacific Southwest and are wary about the complicated
labor and seniority details that must be worked out.
Seniority is
important for pilots and flight attendants because it determines whether they
can fly a popular trip like Baltimore-St. Croix, or get stuck working the 3 a.m.
red-eye from Los Angeles to Charlotte.
US Airways met with union leaders
Tuesday evening and will reassure employees that there would be no furloughs.
But unions, especially the pilots, may still oppose the merger.
Dave
Supplee, a US Airways mechanic and union official in Tampa, said he had mixed
feelings about the deal. Union members want to be sure they won't lose
seniority, he said.
"The main concern for our people is how's this going
to be structured," said Supplee, who lives in the Seminole area of Pinellas
County.
It's too early for either company to say whether the merger will
affect the US Airways maintenance hanger in Tampa, which serves the airline's
growing fleet of Airbus planes. But Jenkins predicted that the hangar would be
unaffected, at least for a few years.
US Airways went through a painful
consolidation of hangars several years ago, and Tampa came out on top. Its
maintenance staff grew while other cities had hangars closed.
Miller and
Jenkins emphasized that the deal still must be approved by federal regulators.
"The only question I would have is whether the Justice Department would
see anything anti-competitive since they are both major carriers," Miller
said.
The merger further complicates an industry where the lines between
airlines were already blurry.
"There are a lot of interesting angles on
this," Miller said. "US Airways and American have a loose alliance. You can
fly one and have your frequent flier miles credited to the other. A passenger on
one can use the other's VIP lounge. United and Delta have exactly the same
relationship. Are we now going to be looking at four airlines in an alliance? I
don't think so, but I don't know."
GRAPHIC:
BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO, PAM ROYAL; In Tampa Tuesday night, US Airways Capt. Kevin
Bauer and customer service agent Yauna Branner had not heard about the merger.
LOAD-DATE: May 24, 2000 
