Seattle Times- Airline boards are under pressure from hedge funds and other investors to find a way to boost share prices that fell calamitously last year as oil prices skyrocketed.
Four major U.S. carriers, including United Airlines, appear closer to consummating deals that would radically remake the airline industry, say people close to the airlines.
Chicago-based United is in merger talks with Continental Airlines and is poised to seal its deal if Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines combine first, sources say.
The deals could be announced as early as this month, provided carriers are able to resolve a host of issues, ranging from fights over how to share the executive suite to offering concessions to labor.
The sequence in which events unfold is crucial to United’s chances of finally completing the megadeal that Chief Executive Glenn Tilton has long craved, experts say.
