American Airlines and US Airways will form the world’s biggest airline after the companies agreed to a blockbuster, $11 billion merger on Wednesday under the American name.
The combined carrier will be run by US Airways CEO Doug Parker, while American’s CEO, Tom Horton, will remain as chairman of the new company until mid-2014.
The deal has been in the works since last August, when creditors pushed for merger talks so they could decide between a combined carrier or a competing plan for an independent airline.
American has been restructuring under bankruptcy protection since late 2011. AMR creditors will own 72 percent of the stock and US Airways Group shareholders will get the rest.
If the deal is approved by American’s bankruptcy judge and antitrust regulators, the new airline will have more than 900 airplanes, 3,200 daily flights and about 95,000 employees, not counting its regional affiliates. It will be slightly bigger than United Airlines as measured by passenger traffic.
