For coverage of the US Airways/American Airlines merger, including how it might impact travelers and the aviation industry...
Professor Robert Mittelstaedt, dean of the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, is available for interviews. Mittelstaedt is based near the US Airways headquarters in Tempe, Arizona.
He is a/an:
-business/aviation expert, -licensed commercial pilot, -management professor,-author of two business books, -board member of three public companies (one in avionics).
He has interviewed on this particular airline story with countless media outlets, including Associated Press.
Prior to his time at the W. P. Carey School of Business, Mittelstaedt served in various positions at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, including as vice dean of executive education. He now heads the W. P. Carey School of Business at ASU, one of the largest and highest-ranked business schools in the country, with more than 10,000 students and both undergraduate and MBA programs ranked Top 30 by U.S. News & World Report.
A photo is available upon request.
Mittelstaedt quotes on the merger:
"There is a lot of discussion about whether this merger will cause reductions in service at one or more of the hubs that the combined American will have, with the two most frequently discussed being Phoenix and Charlotte. I don't believe that will happen for a couple of reasons.
First, and most importantly, Phoenix and Charlotte are similar in that US Airways has significant feeder routes into those hubs from areas where the travel patterns are not likely to change as a result of the merger.
Southern California is unique with smaller airports serving large areas of the megalopolis where customers would prefer to start a journey closer to home in Orange County, Long Beach, Burbank and other cities over driving and fighting traffic and parking to get to LAX for a nonstop coast-to-coast flight. Phoenix plays an important role as the hub for those cities with nonstops to major East Coast cities. American does the same thing through Dallas from Orange County, but not in as many airports as US Airways does through Phoenix.
Similarly Charlotte plays a role in being a hub for dozens of Southeast region cities to feed traffic to larger Northeast cities with some service to Europe and the West Coast. American does not overlap significantly in this area. In fact, it closed a Raleigh-Durham hub years ago as Charlotte grew.
There will certainly be some rationalization of schedules, and the Department of Justice could force the new American to give up some gates, but the most often mentioned site for that is Reagan National in Washington.
The second compelling reason to keep Phoenix active is the significant competition from Southwest. American is weak in Phoenix, and US Airways is strong, so I doubt the new American will simply cede that market to a competitor."
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