From a stick to the knitting point of view this is really a good call.
CA does have a younger fleet and new iron in the pipeline. This will help a lot with the fuel issues.
Newark runs reasonably well, not as congested in the evening as JFK.
IF they can stick the their guns, let the weak die and cherry pick the routes they want they could come out on top.
A merger will just cause a lot of grief, expense and diversion of time away from running the shop. It will be a lot cheaper to grow into the markets that can make money as the chances come up.
Ticket prices will go up at some point. I really doubt that an extra $20-$50 on a ticket will stop anyone from traveling. Other costs associated with a trip might. Right now you can still get the cheap ticket and the internet lets you find them. When they are no longer there people will still travel.
20driver