Local Reaction to American Airlines and U.S. Airways Merger - ABC 33/40 - Birmingham News, Weather, Sports

It's official, American Airlines and U.S. Airways are merging. The 11 billion dollar deal created the world's biggest airline, offering 6,700 flights daily in 56 countries.

The company will retain the American Airlines name and logo. Locally, the merger means no immediate job loss and a 4.3 percent pay increase for American Airline workers.

The official merger will not take place until the third-quarter of this year because the court system still has to approve the merger.

Members of the local 514 Transport Workers Union say this is a positive step forward, but there are still some resentment about losing pay.

"We voluntarily gave concessions in 2003 to keep this company out of bankruptcy and we never recouped any of those concessions and now the company did file bankruptcy in 2011 so the morale of the workforce is oh course low here. We still do our job but we don't enjoy it as much as we use to," says John Hewitt, TWU maintenance chairman.

Hewitt says they have already made Tulsa's maintenance facility look attractive to U.S. Airways, since the company out sources about 70 percent of their maintenance work.

He believes they will like the idea of it being here and could mean even more good news for Tulsa.

"If the trend continues there will be job openings at the maintenance base," says Hewitt.

He says only time will tell how many more jobs they will bring to Tulsa.