Good evening earthlings!

This week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted.

Three guesses what we are talking about this week? (The first two don’t count.)

That’s right — the American Airlines/US Airways merger.

We’ll give you our take on what was announced, what was said that we don’t think is necessarily true, and why we think it’s still a great move not only for American Airlines and US Airways but for the U.S. domestic airline industry in general.

Oh, we talk about the situation at Boeing too. Anyone want to bet as to whether the FAA allows Boeing to put in a “fix” to the battery problem while investigators here and in Japan continue working to find reasons for the two battery issues that occurred in January?

I don’t think the FAA will do it, but apparently Boeing is going to make the pitch on Friday that a different battery design will prevent such things from happening again.

We talk a little bit about earnings this week, as we give a short and sweet summary on the recent results announced by both SkyWest and Spirit. More on the results from both airlines in next week’s issue.

We also look at the pre-announced earnings from Lufthansa.

But the most surprising news this week concerns the bankrupt shares of AMR, parent of American Airlines. As was announced last week, equity shareholders are going to receive a return on their equity investment. Late Wednesday night, JP Morgan analyst Jamie Baker issued a note in which he initiated coverage on the shares again. We’ll tell you why he thinks investors might want to take a look at the shares.

I know. Who would have thought?

Pigs have flown.

All this and more in this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.