The Downside to Buying Continental Airlines

Texas air takes over continental the next month and in short order the two airlines are combined Which means frank Lorenzo now controls effectively the seventh largest airline in the company or in the country. There's a downside to acquiring a big bleeding giant giant like continental it is a money sink, right? And you know Obviously That's not something a guy like ronald reagan is going to think should be acceptable He is fundamentally against the idea that any union should have as much power as the air traffic controllers do So he calls their strike a periled and national security and he orders them back to work at the risk of losing their jobs. But it takes 10 years before faa controller staffing returns to normal