American Airlines parent AMR Corp. and US Airways Group Inc. are moving closer to a merger, and a decision could come early next month, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Teams from each carrier are discussing how to combine departments, including personnel, compensation and severance. AMR's board will meet on Jan. 9 to decide whether to go ahead, with an announcement possible within days. The push follows AMR's efforts to reorganize in bankruptcy court before a merger and US Airways’s quest to lead a takeover creating the world’s largest airline. The chief unsettled issues pending with AMR's unsecured creditors committee, which must approve any exit plan, are how to divide the equity in a new company and who would run it.
