Republic Airways may drop Midwest name

[Midnight Mike]

Republic Airways plans 'unified' brand, may drop Midwest name

http://www.jsonline.com/business/85502612.html

Posted: Feb. 26, 2010

One year after marking its silver anniversary, the Midwest Airlines brand appears headed for retirement, a move that could cut costs and create a more focused marketing approach for Midwest's new owner.

Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc., which bought Midwest in July and Frontier Airlines in October, plans to announce this spring its "unified brand plan," company spokesman Carlo Bertolini said Friday. He spoke after Republic Chairman Bryan Bedford said a new brand is coming soon, suggesting it might not use either the Midwest or Frontier name.

"We will get to a unified brand," Bedford said, during a teleconference to discuss Republic's fourth-quarter earnings.

[hiss srq]

Saw this coming. Disgusting. Totally disgusting. I don't even know what to say.

[Mayi757]

So BOTH Midway and Frontier are disappearing??

Watch them get a paintscheme that's dark blue and white like JetBlue or UsAirways :x LOL this will really suck for variety. This consolidation crap is getting ridiculous. Then Republic goes under and 3 airlines disappear instead of just one.

Say goodbye to the days where there was variety, colors, and choices in the US airline industry.

[cancidas]

i doubt frontier will disapear, the article mentions midwest going away. republic is planning fleet consolidation as well and both FFT and MEP still have a codeshare agreeement in place. midwest might go away but frontier will probably soldier on for some time.

many of you bash RPA for being a "disgrace" or worse, but loko at how far they've come. good business practices have brought them to where they are today.

[Mayi757]

Since you seem to be more in the know about what's going on, do you mind to elaborate on what the 'good business practices' are that separates Republic from the rest?

Midwest seemed like a pretty nice airline until the lo-cos and everyone else started getting greedy this past decade.

ps: Republic will get my respect if they bring back Herman the duck and I don't care if the two aren't related. To me this Republic regional or whatever they are now, has zero brand recognition, they don't even register. You bring back a legendary name you better bring it back in style 8) even more after having the audacity to take over and throw away two legendary airline brands.

[LGA777]

While I hate to see it go dropping the Midwest brand in this case does make sense. But if they choose to drop the Frontier brand and replace with either Republic or a whole new name that will be,at least IMO a HUGE mistake. DEN is one of the most competive Hub cities, if not the most in the country with UA,WN, and F9 all 3 having hubs their. The F9 brand is very popular in DEN and take that away and their home town airline away and Republic will probably become UA and WN's best customer and former F9 customers will jump ship in droves.

Just my 2 cents

LGA777

[hiss srq]

A regional operating as a big boy with regional employees and regional pay grades is a disgrace. At least to those who are frontline. I wouldnt count your ducks so fast because I would put money on RPA going after USAirways next if their finacial position does not drasticly improve soon. If that happens alot of people are going to go up ****s creek at US.

[Mayi757]

A regional operating as a big boy

That's what it sounded like to me. Something just doesn't sound right.

It can't be better to have less and less number of airlines every year. USAirways and America West merged, US is still in bad shape so if they eventually go under or merge with someone that's 2 airlines disappearing vs one.

Also reminded me of Air Canada and Canadian merger about 10 years ago. In a few years, Air Canada was doing so bad it almost disappeared. The recent past is full of example of airline alliances that have failed, taking everyone under.

Only two large mergers/taking over of rivals I can think of that worked have been the Grupo Taca in Central America and LAN group in South America. And then that's because they were able to have a monopoly on those markets.

[Mayi757]

A regional operating as a big boy

That's what it sounded like to me. Something just doesn't sound right.

It can't be better to have less and less number of airlines every year. USAirways and America West merged, US is still in bad shape so if they eventually go under or merge with someone that's 2 airlines disappearing vs one. In the past USAir had already merged with Piedmont.

Also reminded me of Air Canada and Canadian merger about 10 years ago. Within 5 years Air Canada was doing so bad it almost disappeared if it wasn't for getting saved at the last minute. In 2009 they were looking for another bailout. The recent past is full of example of airline mergers/alliances that have failed, taking everyone under.

Only two large mergers/take over of rivals I can think of that worked have been the Grupo Taca in Central America and LAN group in South America. And then that's because they were able to have almost a complete monopoly on those markets.

[NLovis]

Yea the Piedmont USAir merger worked though didnt it? It also brought my father to USAir. But main point things are getting more and more boring. Dont forget about DAL/NWA merger. Thats probably going to work well for DAL.

[T-Bird76]

The Midwest name died a long time ago guys. A product is more then a name and I flew Midwest when they use to have Chinawear dinner service...the last time I flew them you got soda and a cookie. The name use to mean something it doesn't anymore. Using the Frontier name if they do will be a much smarter move since it has far more brand awareness. If they drop the Frontier name I'd be surprised.

[hiss srq]

Tom, I think they want to stick with the Frontier name in their plan. I would be suprised if they outright began operating a carrier under the banner of "Republic". In fact, I am pretty sure that it would infringe on scope with the mainline carriers RAH fly's for as a "per departure" carrier. Than again, with their current growth rate it wouldnt suprise me if they started to eventually sell off the regional side of things or stopped bidding on 70 and 50 seat flying all together for carriers like US and Dalcon. Than again, it wouldnt suprise me to see them throw an offer on the table to Tempe if US keeps going the way they are going right now. It might be the only way to survive for USAirways in any form in the near future based on their numbers as of late. I am not a big fan of RAH as we all know because I think their current formula is going to hurt alot of employees in the business but that is a diffrent story.

If you think about it though, the name Frontier would be a good representation of the company as a whole though in a rebranding restructuring sense. They are afterall endeavoring into new frontiers!

[crj200dispatcher]

A survey is being done by the company, with passengers and company employees to see what name will survive.

A regional airline is not operating Frontier.

[T-Bird76]

A survey is being done by the company, with passengers and company employees to see what name will survive.

A regional airline is not operating Frontier.

Considering there's more Frontier staff than Midwest staff what's the point of a survey? There's no way the Midwest name will win the survey.

[crj200dispatcher]

Personally I think it will be Frontier, but the survey will allow everyone to have their say.

Bedford has already stated that there will be no more financial assistance to US

Each carrier here is operated under it's own certificate, and we are not infringing in anyway with our per departure contracts

[LGA777]

crj200dispatcher wrote:
A survey is being done by the company, with passengers and company employees to see what name will survive.

Considering there's more Frontier staff than Midwest staff what's the point of a survey? There's no way the Midwest name will win the survey.

From what I have read the survey is putting the Frontier name, image, product up against either using Republic, or a possible brand new name and image, I heard the name "New Air" mentioned.

I have a feeling B.B. is hoping for one of the latter and I believe and hope the survey will help him and his team realize how important the Frontier brand is to a lot of people. I also believe strongly that if they retire the Frontier name and image while the new airline would likely survive with a new route system but they would not only FAIL in the Denver market but also ailinate the entire area !

My 2 cents

LGA777

[DHG750R]

New Air isnt original at all, anyone remember this?

April-1999
JetBlue (then known as "New Air") places a $4 billion order with Airbus Industrie for up 75 new A320 aircraft, and commences leasing arrangements for another eight aircraft

[NLovis]

I was too young back then so no i dont. I wish they would roder 737's or 787's. they would look so much better. Especally with a new paint scheme. My 2 cents

[hiss srq]

I'm with Ron on the sense of the Frontier name and service focus. Frontier is a good descrition of what is going on with that company to begin with. A new frontier so to speak. Plus, DEN is their home a hub. They have a HUGELY loyal following that has slowly in the domestic sector pushed United into a place of more so being the connection city rather than a point to point city it once was for them. Frontier and Southwest have really taken that market and spun it on it's head in that sense.