A combination of United and Continental airlines might not yield the same benefits to Denver leisure travelers as United’s other merger target, US Airways, analysts said Thursday.
Yet the Continental deal would be more palatable to pilots because both carriers’ crews are represented by the same union.
United, the largest airline at Denver International Airport, is reported to have held recent merger talks with Continental and US Airways.
Continental’s forte is in serving destinations popular with business travelers, compared with US Airways’ regional route system that caters more to leisure fliers, said Randy Petersen, editor of Inside Flyer magazine.
As a result, a United-Continental merger might not carry as much weight in competitive pricing on leisure destinations against Denver’s Nos. 2 and 3 carriers, Frontier and Southwest, Petersen said.
“United and Continental creates a better business- travel, high-margin airline,” he said. “But Continental is not viewed as an airfare-competition starter.”
Airline analyst William Swelbar said United has fewer overlapping routes with Continental than with US Airways, and United and Continental pilots are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, potentially making for easier integration of crews.
“In my view, a United-Continental combination offers a smoother pathway to realizing the synergy benefits that would come from a merger,” said Swelbar, of the International Center for Air Transportation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In a statement released Thursday, United pilot and ALPA officer Wendy Morse said that “for United’s pilots, Continental, rather than US Airways, represents a more logical merger partner for United Airlines.”
Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com
