If the merger were to go ahead, it would create the world’s largest airline, although there would be significant regulatory hurdles before approval.
Bloomberg broke the news on Monday in the US, with both UA and AA declining to comment, while industry experts cast doubt over whether such a significant merger could go ahead.
George Hay, a law professor at Cornell University told CNBC that “this would be the biggest of all time – I can’t even see the slightest chance that a court would allow it”.
Any kind of merger would have an impact on Australian travel to the US, with both airlines offering a significant amount of services to the east coast of Australia – both fly to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne as well as Auckland in New Zealand.
American Airlines is part of Oneworld with Australian national carrier Qantas, and provides Fiji Airways with its loyalty program, while United Airlines is aligned with the largest airline alliance by market share, Star Alliance.
Picture: Copilot AI.
