And I laugh. Because there’s just no real analysis behind the 150 words that has caused such concern here in the CLT. This is relevant portion of the paper:

If approved by DOJ, the combined airline could be expected to rationalize its network over time, including where it maintains hubs. The two airlines do not share any airport hubs; therefore, the amount of airport market share overlap that currently exists at these hubs is relatively small but could grow at some hubs while contracting at others under a merger. For example, New York could serve as a better hub and international gateway than Philadelphia in the Northeast, while Miami could be a better hub than Charlotte in the Southeast. In addition, 59 out of 116 domestic airports served by US Airways from Charlotte are also served by American from Miami (MIA). Closing hubs is not unprecedented, following the American acquisition of TWA in 2001, St Louis ceased to be an American hub and following the Delta–Northwest merger, service at Delta’s hub in Cincinnati and Northwest’s hub in Memphis has been greatly reduced.

Obvious problems: The combined AA/US simply can’t shift US Airways’ Philly operation up to NYC as both LaGuardia and JFK are capacity (slot) constrained. And while Miami may well be a good alternative to Charlotte for international flights, it makes a horrible domestic hub. Which is exactly the point US Airways made soon after the GAO report came out. From the UPoR:

US Airways told its employees in a newsletter that the GAO report did not “provide anything to support its assertions about closing hubs.” In an interview Friday, the airline said that a key factor in keeping Charlotte a large hub in a newly merged airline is geography.

It wouldn’t make sense to shift millions of passengers who use Charlotte Douglas International for connections to an airport that’s more than 90 minutes away by flying time, the airline said.

“We don’t think a lot of passengers from the South are going to want to go south to Miami to go to the Northeast,” said Howard Kass, US Airways vice president for legal and government affairs.

Yup.