AA: We will "object vigorously" if JAL tie up with Delta

During the American Airlines quarterly earning conference call, AA CEO Gerard Arpey said they will "object vigorously" for any kind of cooperation between Japan Airlines and Delta. He also warned JAL that it would be unwise for them to switch to Delta as their US partner! To me, it sounds like someone is desperate :P

According to Kyodo News,

'We would move aggressively to block any form of cooperation between the dominant carriers in the region,'' American Airlines Chief Executive Officer Gerald Arpey said in a conference call to investors.

...

''We would evaluate other carriers in the region, those that are not represented by alliances and those that are,'' American Airlines Chief Financial Officer Tom Horton said in the same conference call.

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''It would make a mockery of the whole notion of open skies'' if regulatory approval is granted, Arpey said

So AA tries to threaten JAL by saying if you switch to Delta, be prepared for a long fight before you get your ATI application approved, if it ever will get approved. If this happens, who will be the winners? Not AA, Not JAL, Not Delta. ANA! UA! CO! All those bastards at the Star Alliance will be laughing. As UA's CEO Glenn Tilton said, "I'm delighted to be on the sidelines" when he spoke at a luncheon according to the Chicago Tribune (by the way, he's predicting there will be another merger coming. UA and CO?)

It looks like sour grapes to me. Even Aprey said AA is still in talk with JAL about the tie-up, but judging from what he said, it sounds more like JAL has chosen Delta and this is AA's final desperate move to make JAL change their mind. I don't think that's a wise move and this is definitely not the Japanese way of doing business. And by the way, I believe AA and BA has similar, if not bigger, dominance over the transatlantic markets, but yet AA think they should be granted ATI? Aprey, your arguments don't sound too convincing to me.

My advice is go find another partner if JAL and Delta is a done deal. According to your CFO said, other airlines have expressed interests in joining Oneworld. Hopefully that's someone in the Northeast Asia. Otherwise I don't know how AA is going to compete in the Asia market. If I were you, I would start talking with Asiana and have Eva as a backup. Delta started the stealing game, then OW should go steal *A's and Asiana is geographically better than Taipei. Also as someone mentioned on FlyerTalk, there are political reasons that makes Eva a less attractive partner. Whining about losing JAL and making threats aren't going to get you anywhere.