While far from inevitable, the proposed merger of US Airways and American Airlines seems to have garnered support from virtually everyone who matters but the management of bankrupt AA itself. US Airways has gone as far as to reach agreements in principle with all three of American’s main labor unions, promised to save some 6,200 jobs and issued estimates of $1.2 billion in so-called synergy value should American accept an offer from the Phoenix-based airline.
At face value, consolidation seems to make sense for American’s shareholders, its employees and even many of the cities that stand to lose service from AA’s planned withdrawal.
Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with New Jersey Monthly magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for Aviation International News in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.
