Nutter Among Seven Mayors Asking For US Airways, American Airlines Merger To Go Through
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Seven big-city mayors, including Mayor Nutter, are calling on US Attorney General Eric Holder to drop his effort to stop the merger of US Airways and American Airlines.
Mayor Nutter and the mayors of Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, Miami, Charlotte and Phoenix have written to Attorney General Holder asking that the merger of US Airway and American be allowed to proceed.
"We joined with other mayors of hub cities of US Airways and American Airlines, to urge the Justice Department to settle their case against the merger," said Andrew Stober, Chief of Staff in Mayor Nutter's Office of Transportation and Utilities "because we believe it will be good for Philadelphia and frankly good for all of our cities."
The letter calls the Justice Department's lawsuit "ill-conceived" and says that without a merger, the two airlines will be at a competitive disadvantage to two other merger airlines, United-Continental and Delta-Northwest.
The Department of Justice has been holding up the merger out of concern that it could prompt higher airfares and reduced service in the cities the two airlines serve.
