The Charlotte Observer got an interview with US airways CEO Doug Parker. The key quote, about what would happen if US Airways were to merger with another airline:

I suspect in any sort of individual scenario that involves US Airways or any other airline in the future, that Charlotte will be a hub airport. I can’t imagine a scenario where Charlotte doesn’t have a lot of air service.

Exactly. To understand why, consider what US Airways has to offer in a merger and where it’s something another airline, particularly American, Delta, or United, would pay for:

• Washington Reagan National (DCA) small hub: Certainly has value but given the slot constraints, short runways, and limit on flights beyond 1250 miles, DCA can never be the keystone of an airline’s operations. A merger creates anti-trust issues that would require slots to be sold, so the combined entity may not end up with many more slots than US Airways has currently. The DCA hub makes a merger with United, which has a hub at Dulles, hard to pull off.

• A Northeast shuttle (Reagan National – New York LaGuardia – Boston) and associated slots. Worth some much less now than a decade or 15 years ago. A merger would also create anti-trust issue, particularly for Delta.

• Phoenix hub. Unfortunately, Phoenix is also one of Southwest Airline’s largest stations and because of that it comes with the deal, it’s not something actually value.

• A Philadelphia hub, complete with flights to 16 destinations in Europe plus Israel. This would be redundant to what American, Delta, and United are trying to do up the road in New York City. And NYC is a much bigger market than Philly. So unless one of the big three losses market share in a big way in New York City, then US Airway’s Philadelphia operation just doesn’t have that much value to them. There would just be too much overlap to have this be the driver in a merger.

• A Charlotte hub. US Airways’ biggest hub and one of only two hubs in the Southeast. Significant domestic and Caribbean tourist traffic flows. Would fill a big hole in American or United operations.

So yes, Charlotte would survive in any likely merger but it really goes beyond that — what Charlotte has to offer is exactly what makes US Airways attractive, especially to American.