By now plenty has been said over the internet concerning US Airways' display of bravado toward Georgia's own Delta Air
Lines. Even so, I still would like to throw out some choice words, for anybody who may have found their way to this
page hosted for free on Tripod.
Here's the thing I've figured out: Doug Parker, the offending airline's CEO, couldn't give two half-farts about what Atlanta
would suffer under his proposed hostile takeover. Otherwise, how would he constantly insist his plan, including moving the
fused airline's home offices to Tempe, Arizona, is best? Give or take, this could be like Ford leaving Detroit, or Coors leaving
Denver.
I can already see the blight unfold from 25,000 or so people having to leave the metro area, for starters. College Park
and Clayton and Fayette counties would lose enough of their tax base to put a strain on providing basic services. In other
words--more potholes, fewer fire engines. Area businesses would suffer a rapid loss of customers, and more than a few would
close--think empty, boarded-up storefronts.
It wouldn't stop in the living space of Delta employees, though. The number of visitors to the city or metro area
would take an immediate dive, if for no other reason than the number of flights at Hartsfield-Jackson being scaled back.
Don't even try to say that wouldn't happen; it would/will, by Mr. Parker's own admission. Without visitors, predictably, more
businesses would feel the burn and maybe go under.
And (now I'm moving into a worst-case scenario) what if nobody's around to fill the living spaces formerly occupied by
Delta workers? Either they'd have to be rented out or left to rot devoid of inhabitants. Expect some neighborhoods to empty
out or even become pockets of Section 8 housing.
Conventions would stop pitching their tents in Atlanta without the presence of the city's flagship airline. MARTA
would suffer more than it already has, from boarding fewer travelers from the airport. People would pretty much hardly
move here anymore, for better and for worse.
I'm trying not to be hyperbolic, but this is seriously gloomy, especially considering the price of Delta's stock lately,
and how that would influence the creditors and others who have the final say in this. Compounding the hurt are some of
the messages posted on the AJC blog dedicated to this event...this one, for example:
If US Air buys out Delta, I will 1. Vote Democratic 2. Move out of my trailer park 3. Stop sleeping with my sister
4. Stop sleeping with my father 5. Take the “W” sticker off the back of my pick-em-up truck 6. Start using my
turn signal 7. Approve Gay marriage 8. Move to New York City! I can’t count any higher than 8.
-Yankee, 16 November 2006