Republic Buys Midwest

[PhilDernerJr]

Excellent views all, but please let's continue to be friendly and not take anything personally.

[DHG750R]

Who's being naive now? Do you really think for one second Republic bought these two airlines out of the goodness of their heart? They were bought for a bargain price as an investment and you can rest assured people will lose their jobs

Hit the nail right on the head with that one. Understandibly for the folks at Republic, this will be exciting, especially if it works out profitably. Bottom line if Frontier and or Midwest continue to lose money, they will be disposed of/sold off/liquidated. People will lose their jobs and eventually the competition will fill in the voids as needed.

What this does to those airlines who use Republic's services? No one knows for sure; The relationship may become strained, undermining the very foundation of Republic and the reason all it's subsidiaries has become so successful. Bottom line, every single airline exists because of a desire to make profit, even state owned airlines need to sustain themselves or else eventually the well runs dry.

Food for thought ,crj200dispatcher. People are stating their opinions here, just as you may think it's great, some may not. We can all agree to disagree. It's certainly not personal at all.

[PhilDernerJr]

I do think that some will get laid off, but I think that if Republic didn't come along, ALL of them would have lost their jobs.

Also, the airline industry is all about losing your job. There are hardly any career pilots who have not been fired or furloughed more than once in their careers. It's something that every airline has done, and no one should be surprised when it happens.

I see Republic as having saved Midwest and Frontier, no matter what kind of chopping might go on (to an extent).

[T-Bird76]

How will Midwest not have any product identity because Republic bought them? Midwest will operate the way they always have just under a new ownership and under a tighter budget and a new aircraft type that will be cost effective

Midwest has no product identity now...Midwest's mantra was that they catered to the business traveler by offering all biz class seating, high frequency between business centers, and fine onboard service. Midwest doesn't offer any of that now...instead they have this hybrid model of half Signature and half Saver. Go fly a Midwest flight and you'll notice something...the plane is pretty tail heavy...why? Because no one is buying the Signature seats. They don't offer fine meals anymore, they have far less frequency then they did in the past. They built themselves on one model and now are trying to be something else..what that is, is beyond me.

Why are you people so against this, I mean I can get on here and say I hate all AA people, "One big Happy Family My A**" You took my job at TWA away from me...boo hoo. Or how WN is aggressively going after Midwest in MKE and F9 in DEN, the same way they went after US in PHL, when US was weak. Which I think is BS

Who said everyone is against this? If this didn't happen YX would be gone. However because of what I stated above Republic should fly the two under one name and that name should be Frontier. Midwest is a damaged name with little identity around the country. The cost savings would be in the millions if they flew them under one name.

T-Bird history has been made, a airline holding company that owns regionals has bought one major and offered a bid on another

Its not history and Frontier and Midwest are not considered Major airlines. To be considered a major airline you need to have revenue of 1 billion a year or more, neither have that. Its one company buying two other companies, something that happens every day.

[T-Bird76]

I see Republic as having saved Midwest and Frontier, no matter what kind of chopping might go on (to an extent).

This has nothing to do with saving those airlines, its about Republic saving the investment they made in both these airlines in 2008. Republic provided the DIP financing for Frontier when they went into Chapter 11 and the funds to keep Midwest flying in exchange Republic would fly for Midwest. Basically if Republic didn't step in both carriers would have failed and Republic would have lost their investment. This deal allows them to protect that investment and ensure they receive a return on their own terms.

My company did something similar in 2007, we owned 50% of another company that was failing and if we didn't buy them out we would have lost big time...I still think we lost on that deal but we were able to protect certain assets.

At the end of the day this is a numbers game...the shareholders could careless about the people, all they want is a return on their investment and the airline has to do what it takes to ensure the shareholders are happy.

[hiss srq]

Wave your flags and jump up and down at Republic but its my bet that Bedford is in over his head with this.