SWA to make a bid for Frontier

[FA Mikey]

Frontier Airlines Holdings, Inc. today announced that Southwest Airlines has submitted an initial non-binding proposal to acquire Frontier under the auction procedures established in Frontier’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases and approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

full article here

SWA wants DEN

 

[700UW]

Very interesting, I wonder what would WN do with the Airbus aircraft since they dont fly them and only fly one type of plane family.

Very Interesting I say!

Q&A on WN's Blog

 

[hp_fa]

From Paula Berg inside that blog.

Good point about the aircraft. We do not intend to integrate the Airbus into our fleet. As we would be able to retire Airbus aircraft from the fleet, we would add Boeing 737 aircraft.

 

[FA Mikey]

Southwest Airlines bid $170 million on Monday to take Frontier out of bankruptcy protection, well above the $108.8 million offered by regional jet operator Republic Airways Holdings Inc.

Asked if Republic will bid at the bankruptcy court auction planned for Thursday, spokesman Carlo Bertolini said, "I think we'll be present there. What our next step is, I don't have any detail on that."

Frontier's route network looks like a spider, with a body in Denver and about 50 legs to cities around the U.S. as well as Mexico and Costa Rica. Southwest already competes in Denver with Frontier as well as United Airlines, which has a hub there.

Buying Frontier would give Southwest service in several new cities, and take out one of its two big competitors in Denver. Southwest would have about 36 percent of Denver passengers, compared with about 37 percent for United, according to an analysis by airline analyst Darryl Jenkins of The Airline Zone.

full article here

 

[jimntx]

Southwest dropped out of the bidding for Frontier after Southwest pilots and Frontier pilots could not come to agreement on seniority list merger, and Republic upped its bid to $180 million.

 

[code RED]

"BRAVO" ...Republic !!!

 

[does this plane go to paris]

Southwest dropped out of the bidding for Frontier after Southwest pilots and Frontier pilots could not come to agreement on seniority list merger, and Republic upped its bid to $180 million.

Jim,

I saw your remarks about RJET upping their bid to 180M but haven't seen that posted anywhere. Do you have a link or point me in the right direction.

FWIW, I think that the pilot's at F9 made a mistake. Their company was already in BK and they have been slashing jobs. RJET is making some type of move with their purchase of Frontier and Midwest, but I see a repeat of Independence Air coming around, where a feeder company got too large and thought they could break big. Not saying they can't, but WN has now seen the books on F9 and has a better understanding of the patient and while the ego of WN might be bruised, DEN is still in play with F9, WN and UAL. Just to add to RJET's day, the next city WN's opening up is MKE.

Gary Kelly is not Herb and Collen and he's willing to try other options in this market and industry. Time's are getting interesting.

 

[Borescope]

Jim,

I saw your remarks about RJET upping their bid to 180M but haven't seen that posted anywhere. Do you have a link or point me in the right direction.

The final figure was $108.8 Million.

As for the pilots...... or any employee group for that matter, it's hard to lose any seniority. The F9 pilots wanted to be integrated in on a relative seniority basis. The Wn guys said no, staple on the bottom. Relative seniority is the fair way to do it, but who said anything about fair. The F9 pilots could have taken the deal, but I don't blame them for not doing it. Their fate is now in their own hands. I hope the city gets behind them and F9 prospers in Denver.

 

[jimntx]

Jim,

I saw your remarks about RJET upping their bid to 180M but haven't seen that posted anywhere. Do you have a link or point me in the right direction.

I got the $180million figure from a friend who flies for Frontier. It may be that when WN withdrew, Republic was allowed to reinstate their original bid. Or, it may be they didn't up their bid and after WN withdrew, their $108 million bid was the only one left, and my friend was just having a dyslexic moment--$180/$108.

 

[WNjetdoc]

"does this plane"....excellent points. (Moderator's note: Vulgar comment deleted.)

Lets see, bottom seniority at one of the best, most secure airlines in the world is WAY better than being top seniority in a bankrupt airline, (bankrupt times how many times now?). Not to menion I'm pretty sure they would've been ahead in pay as well.

I have an AMT friend at F9 and while he wasn't crazy about starting over with senority he said most of the guys really wanted the security and pay at WN.

I agree about seeing their books also.....I still wonder if there is more to the story than what we know right now? If there isn't then it says a lot about the culture at WN. I'm thinking at just about ever other airline if an aquisition was in the hopper, seniorty concerns from the pilot group woudn't be THE reason the deal didn't go through.

 

[lpbrian]

It's amazing how pilots unions can hose it for other airline employees.

 

[WNjetdoc]

It's amazing how pilots unions can hose it for other airline employees.

Trust me, there are a lot of guys saying the same thing at our shop. To add to what I said above, I do wonder, for example, if the Rampers had an issue with the seniority of F9's rampers....would the company had of squashed the deal because of the Ramp Agents concerns? I think NOT.

 

[ramper_in_las]

Trust me, there are a lot of guys saying the same thing at our shop. To add to what I said above, I do wonder, for example, if the Rampers had an issue with the seniority of F9's rampers....would the company had of squashed the deal because of the Ramp Agents concerns? I think NOT.

The question of seniority during an acquisition was already agreed upon between Southwest and TWU 555 in our new contract. It would have placed F9 employees at the bottom of the seniority list. so take it or leave it... :blink:

1 hand agree to the terms and get an industry leading contract for your rampers with the a well run company...

the other hand a bankrupt company being taken over with inexperienced executives and non union rampers still struggling to make ends meet.

I think the answer speaks for itself

 

[Ralph]

Since Southwest is no longer part of the deal, this thead is closed.