American Airlines and US Airways said on Friday that they have started confidential merger talks, the Associated Press reported on Friday. Such a merger would put the combined airline on par with the world's largest — United Continental Holdings Inc. — and the slightly smaller Delta Air Lines. Its position as the No. 1 or No. 2 airline in the world, based on how many miles its passengers fly, would depend on how many routes anti-trust regulators force the combined airline to abandon. Many industry experts say that the only way American and US Airways can compete with larger rivals is by merging their strengths. US Airways would gain American's lucrative international routes while American's larger hubs would be fed passengers from US Airways' network in smaller U.S. cities.
