American CFO Mulls Consolidation

Since Goulet spoke, however, American has added a Chicago-Shanghai route to its portfolio, which already included a Chicago-Delhi route and service to Japan from several cities. As Asian markets open to nonstop service by U.S. carriers, the value of Northwest's Tokyo hub may seem to have diminished, especially in view of potentially difficult labor integration with Northwest. Major work groups at the two carriers are represented by different unions.

Consolidation issues aside, American will be reviewing the need to upgrade its fleet in the coming year, Horton said. The carrier operates about 300 aging MD-80 aircraft. Horton noted that replacing them with Boeing (BA Quote) 737s would cost more than $10 billion. "Sometime in the next year or so, we will have to make a decision on the first installment of whether to replace those airplanes," he said.

In general, Horton appeared to agree with Scott Carson, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, who said earlier this week that during the next two years, aircraft orders could be placed by American, Delta(DALRQ Quote) and United (UAUA Quote).

"All three are in the process of trying to understand what their options are," Carson said. "My guess is that in late 2007 or 2008, we're going to see campaigns mature there."