American looking for spot at table of airline merger mania

But, if a Northwest-Delta deal is in the works, and a Continental-United one is moving that way, who partners with American? The biggest remaining airline is US Airways , which has just gotten over completing all the work in its acquisition of America West, and has little international presence to offer. But, what about THIS idea?

Calyon Securities airline analyst Ray Neidl had a suggestion Tuesday: American could start a bidding war to woo away Northwest and its valuable Asian routes. …

Another industry analyst, Robert McAdoo of Avondale Partners, also seemed to like the idea of an American run on Northwest.

"It seems to me that adding Northwest and its Asia routes probably does more strategically than any other acquisition that's available," he said.

Northwest has a huge Pacific presence, which is American’s weakest international link.

My question is, what would merger bidding wars due to the bottom line of airlines already losing money? And, if the merger prices get high enough, does the Street start driving airline stock prices into the gutter?

And, a point, not a question. If a Northwest-Delta merger is dicey enough, precisely because of American’s Atlantic and Latin American strengths, I simply can’t see an American-Northwest merger getting regulatory approval.

And, back to the original idea. US Airways is strong in the East Coast, which could help American, especially as far as giving it more feeders into its European routes.