The 2013 merger of American Airlines and US Airways marked a major step in the consolidation of the US airline industry. A young management team that began plotting mergers a decade earlier designed a brilliant strategy to seize an industry prize. The airlines' histories and the inside story of the takeover is told by two veteran airline reporters.

The 2013 merger of American Airlines and US Airways marked a major step in the consolidation of the U.S. airline industry. A young management team that began plotting mergers a decade earlier designed a brilliant strategy to seize an industry prize. In doing so, it enlisted the help of unions who engineered one of the labor movement's biggest corporate victories. The airlines' histories and the inside story of the takeover is told by two veteran airline reporters.