Assuming AUH is actually financing EK and buying 40 or 50% of it, as a matter of respect of Arab solidarity, changes won't surface quickly to avoid DXB losing face. The changes will happen quietly, slowly and anarckily(?). It won't be easy to merge given the egos many of the top guys have in both camps.
Who will be the best Chairman, the best CEO, and the best VPs for the different areas? Who will prevail despite the muscling from AUH? How long will the whole thing take?
AUH and DXB will have the interest of flying the Emirates flag on the acft tails across the world as EK does at the moment, but other cosmetic changes will have to happen. Will JXB be a compromise as the HQ? Will the EY fuselage painting match the EK tail? Maybe!
Emirati-Etihad is not a bad name. It means United Emirates or Emirates United (not football). To avoid losing already secured world trade mark, Emirati is not too far from Emirates, it's an Arabic name and so is Etihad.
DXB and AUH airports may resize and still be used to serve both populations of AUH and DXB.
DXB's problems are not oil. It's liquidity. The money vanished from there and now they are short of cash. Investors are afraid. DXB should go back to the basics and concentrate their efforts on tourism because of the long and attractive sea coast, the desert and the mountain of the northern Emirates. They should also concentrate on their old trade mark of import/export and consequently cheap goods, and so attract tourism. They can continue advertising the name across the world, make still loads of money, but not filthy fortunes.