US Airways watched American flounder, then pounced

US Airways Group has spent years looking for a merger partner only to be turned away and labelled the “ugly girl” amid a wave of US airline industry consolidation.

It finally saw an opportunity in the fall of 2011, when rumours swirled that American Airlines was in trouble.

Still, US Airways was caught off guard when American’s parent AMR Corp filed for bankruptcy in November that year. US Airways executives had estimated that American had enough cash to sustain operations at least through May of last year, according to people familiar with the situation.

via Business feed http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1150102/us-airways-watched-american-flounder-then-pounced