American Airlines parent AMR Corp. and US Airways Group Inc. are hashing out the last major details of a merger agreement that would create the world's largest airline and are racing to finalize a deal, the Wall Street Journal reported today. If the deal is reached, the new company could have a market capitalization of more than $10 billion and would vault ahead of United Continental Holdings Inc. as the biggest U.S. airline by traffic. The all-stock deal would be executed as a reorganization plan that takes American out of chapter 11 protection. American has resisted a deal at various points in favor of emerging from bankruptcy protection as an independent airline. Significant points of the deal, including how to split ownership of the airline and how to arrange board seats and management ranks, remain unresolved. The boards of both airlines have not yet convened to consider the deal, although American representatives yesterday discussed whether to schedule such a meeting.
