Delta May Spark Merger Mania

"If somebody starts stuff out there, we're not going to sit back and just do nothing," Misner said. "We have models on every conceivable paring that you could think of. We have thoughts and ideas and plans sitting there on the shelf."

But he added that "we don't have the ability to start dominos falling. We're not sure we want the dominos to fall. There's a whole lot of carnage out there in consolidation. It's a disruptive process."

In general, there are two ways in which airline executives talk about consolidation. Both can begin with the observation if someone were to create the U.S. airline industry today, it would not be so fragmented, with the largest carrier controlling just 15% of the domestic market.

Beyond that, one can either say that consolidation would benefit the industry, the shareholders and the employees, or make the argument that airline industry mergers have generally been failures -- producing headaches but little value.

The news is that now there are three carriers in the former category.