AMR And US Airways Merge - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - AMR Corp. (AAMRQ.PK) and US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) announced the completion of their merger to officially form American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) and begin building the new American Airlines.

American Airlines said that the new American has a robust global network with nearly 6,700 daily flights to more than 330 destinations in more than 50 countries and more than 100,000 employees worldwide.

American Airlines noted that US Airways will exit Star Alliance on March 30, 2014 and will immediately enter oneworld on March 31, 2014.

American Airlines stated that although American and US Airways have come together as one company, the process to achieve a Single Operating Certificate is expected to take approximately 18 to 24 months. In the meantime, customers should continue to do business with the airline from which travel was purchased just as they did before the merger. In short, it is "business as usual."

The airlines' separate websites, aa.com and usairways.com, as well as the two airlines' reservations systems and loyalty programs, will continue to operate separately until further in the integration process.

The combination is expected to deliver enhanced value to American Airlines' stakeholders and US Airways' investors. The transaction is expected to generate more than $1 billion in annual net synergies by 2015.

The common and preferred stock of American Airlines Group will trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbols "AAL" and "AALCP," respectively.

In Mid-November, AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines Inc., and US Airways Group, Inc. said that they settled the litigation brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, the States of Arizona, Florida, Michigan and Tennessee, the Commonwealths of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the District of Columbia challenging the merger of the two companies that would create the world's largest airline.

In August, the Justice Department, along with six state attorneys general and the District of Columbia, had filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the proposed merger of AMR and US Airways, claiming the deal would jeopardize competition and inflate airfares.

In mid-February, AMR and U.S. Airways agreed to merge in a stock-swap deal to create a global carrier that would have an implied combined equity value of about $11 billion. The deal was originally expected to close in August. US Airways shareholders will own 28% of the combined company, while the remaining stake will be held by stakeholders of AMR and its debtor subsidiaries.