The combined American-US Airways would be Cleveland's second-largest carrier after United, operating 13.3 percent of the airport's total flights and seats. Compared to United's 240 daily departures, American ranks No. 4 with 15 daily flights and US Air is No. 5 with 12.
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American Airlines and US Airways jets prepare for flight at gate at the Philadelphia International Airport on Thursday. The $11 billion merger of the two airlines will create a mega airline with more passengers than any other in the world.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The merger between American Airlines and U.S. Airways will create the second-biggest airline in Cleveland -- and could push airfares higher.
But for the most part, local travelers won't see much change.
On Thursday, American Airlines and US Airways announced the $11 billion union that many had long expected, and began the process to becoming the world's largest airline.
The combined airline, which will still be called American Airlines, will weave together US Air's East Coast and Central U.S. routes with American's Latin America and the Caribbean destinations.
"Together we will offer our customers more than 6,700 daily flights to 336 destinations in 56 countries by maintaining all the hubs currently served by both airlines," American's Chairman and Chief Executive Tom Horton said in a statement.
But even though the new American-US Airways knocks United Continental Holdings out of the No. 1 spot globally, United still reigns here at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
In comparison to United's 240 daily departures, American ranks No. 4 with 15 daily flights and US Air is No. 5 with 12. Neither considers Cleveland a hub.
But the combined American-US-Airways would be Cleveland's second-largest carrier after United, operating 13.3 percent of the airport's total flights and seats.
Local travel observers don't expect much disruption in terms of service locally, but expressed concern that the reduced competition as the nation goes from five to four major carriers will push up fares.
While the airlines view it as a way to become more profitable, "the American and US Air merger won't be so good for the industry as it could cause airfares to increase," and reduce choices for consumers, said David J. Sangree, president of Hotel & Leisure Advisors LLC in Lakewood.
Brett Snyder, president of Cranky Flier LLC in Long Beach, Calif., views the merger as a largely positive thing for passengers.
"This provides a bigger footprint to American travelers. It lets them fly to a whole host of new, smaller cities around the U.S.," he said. "That includes mid-size cities that American doesn't serve today, like Burbank and Oakland. It will also enable those travelers to connect to the world...
"And a third, thriving large carrier in the U.S. to complement Delta and United will be good for competition."
"The question is always about what it will do to fares. It's hard to know exactly what will happen, but overall it shouldn't have a huge impact," he said.
Charlie Leocha of the Consumer Travel Alliance in Washington, D.C., argues there are no discernable consumer benefits to the merger.
"No new routes, no new competition, no savings that can be passed on to consumers," he said in a statement. "Even if there were significant savings created by synergies in this merger, they would be overwhelmed by the negative consequences of higher airfares and reduced competition."
"It brings us only one or two mergers away from having a dominant, national carrier," he said.
With the industry consolidating into four domestic and three international carriers, he worries about the prospect of "massive airlines that affect too much of our nation's economy."
Ricky Smith, airport director at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, he doesn't expect any significant changes at Cleveland's airport.
Of the 27 daily flights both carriers operate, all seven destinations are among the airport's top 50 markets, including No. 1 Chicago O'Hare and No. 3 New York LaGuardia, he said.
"We are confident that each of these flights serves a valuable purpose in both carriers' networks."
"We see no reason to believe that a merged American/US Airways would significantly reduce its service at CLE," he said.
Kristie VanAuken, spokeswoman for Akron-Canton Airport, agrees.
"We are optimistic about this merger," she said. "US Airways has been a strong CAK partner for more than forty years. We think there could be additional opportunities and routes, under a merged airline scenario, that would benefit travelers in Northeast Ohio."
US Airways, which has five daily flights to Charlotte, three to Philadelphia and one to Ronald Regan Washington National Airport in D.C., flew more than 266,000 passengers out of Akron-Canton in 2012.
US Air is the third-largest carrier out of Akron-Canton Airport, after Southwest/AirTran and Delta Air Lines.
American doesn't fly out of Akron-Canton.
"Because the franchise has done well for such a long time, we are optimistic that CAK would see growth as a result of the merger. Of course, it is way too early to tell one way or the other."
Until the merger closes, expected in the third quarter of 2013 or later, the two airlines will operate as separate entities as will their regional carriers such as AMR's American Eagle and US Airways' Piedmont and PSA.
"Customers will not see any changes to their existing travel reservations, and can and should continue to book, track and manage flight and travel plans on AA.com," the airlines said.
Also yet to be determined is how the merger will affect employees. American employs about 62,400 workers, while US Airways has 31,236.
A bigger issue for passengers is that neither airline has the customer service reputation that approaches what Continental had before the merger, Snyder said.
"It's well known today that American employees are not happy with their current management team. You would think that if they had a management team they believed in, they would be more motivated to provide better customer service."
Leocha of the Consumer Travel Alliance said system integration problems plagued Delta and Northwest and Continental and United after they merged.
"While the airline management rakes in merger bonuses, consumers are the ones who bear the brunt of post-merger integration service problems," he said. "With prior mergers, these issues have create major problems for passengers."
The two airlines together have a combined 101 million members, making their loyalty program larger than United's 90 million members and Delta's 74 million, according to Bloomberg News.
There won't be any immediate changes to American's AAdvantage program or US Airways' Dividend Miles. Passengers can still rack up their mileage and redeem mileage awards for miles flown or branded credit or debit card charges.
The merged American will leave the Star Alliance, where US Airways is a partner with United, and join Oneworld, where it will remain partners with British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Qantas, Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines and others.
Jeff Smisek, United Airlines' chairman, president and chief executive, told employees in a memo Thursday morning that the merger was "good news for United.
"We, our co-workers, our customers and our shareholders have benefited from the improved financial health that consolidation has brought to our industry," he wrote. "United is a much stronger carrier today than we were before we merged, and we haven't even finished harvesting all the synergies of our merger."
Smisek cautioned that "Although we're more than two years ahead of American and US Airways on our merger and much of our integration is behind us, the merged American will be a formidable competitor. We will need to work hard to stay ahead."
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