it includes the lufthansa co. and british airways. it will enable us to compete effectively against these large foreign carriers. in sum, it will create a strong, financially viable airline that will provide good paying careers and great customer service in an unparalleled network to consumers and reliable service to communities. the merger will provide us with a platform with sustained profitability and position us to succeed in the highly competitive domestic and global aviation industry, better positioned than either of us could be alone or together in an alliance. thank you very much. >> let me start with a few questions. in my opening statement, i expressed my concern and you have heard from the members that testified here before us today and i think that every member of the subcommittee is concerned about the employees at both airlines and what happens to them. we know what has happened in past mergers and we heard your testimony that there will be minimal affect on the employees and mr. tilton testimony -- testified that it wil

today the largest airlines by revenue are lufthansa and air france. with more than half the capacity and to assess three of trans-pacific capacity provided by foreign carriers. united and continental have taken significant actions to improve our performance, competing across international and domestic markets, and finding a way to connect small u.s. communities into our combined network. in this dynamic environment, these actions have not been enough. our proposed merger is a very logical and essential next step for our objective of sustained profitability. let me be clear. without this merger, we would not have the $1 billion to $1.2 billion to improve products or services for our customers, nor would we have the financial means to create a better career opportunities for our employees. we would not be as successful as we need to be to enable economic development across the country. our merger strengthen service for those who rely on our network in nearly 148 communities, by providing economic benefit they otherwise would not have. carriers compete v