As you know, the United States Department of Justice recently determined that it had no objection to the merger between United and Continental. The two carriers now anticipate that the legal aspects of the merger will be completed shortly after the September 17, 2010 shareholder's meetings where it is expected that the shareholders of both carriers will vote in favor of the merger by a large margin. United and Continental also announced its top-tier leadership team and stated their intention to combine the FAA part 121 certificates of Continental and Continental's subsidiary, Air Micronesia. In addition to the flurry of corporate and legal activity, the United negotiators came to the table this week focused and prepared to negotiate. It was a productive week.
The parties focused on finishing two brand new Articles to the Agreement, which were Field Service and Training. The Field Service Article was TA’d and much of the work was completed to facilitate a TA on the Training Article when the Parties reconvene on September 13th.
Using the Continental language as a template for these Articles was helpful to the process. However, there are several definitional pieces of each Article that required a complete understanding by both parties due to the different nomenclature used by the two different Carriers. Both Articles represent a positive fundamental shift in the way these issues are administered. These Articles required extraordinary amounts of work from each side, using both the full committee, as well as several subcommittees, to achieve the required understanding.
The next session of negotiations will be held the week of September 13th in Chicago followed by the week of the 21st in San Francisco.
