AAI says all or nothing @MDW

[lowecur]

In what appears to be a "I'll take my toys and go home, if I don't get what I want ploy," AAI will try to force Daley's hand on approving the deal. WN wants 7 gates according to Gary Kelly, but he'll probably take 4 or 5. He say's MDW will be WN's focus for growth in 2005. What happened to PHL? I still think WN will not get anymore gates, unless it's by default.

Could this be more of a strategic move by Kelly to keep AAI, or B6 from establishing a strong presence in Chicago? I think so. He certainly has the money and airplanes to back up his bids, and the only thing that will stop him is a common sense business decision by Daley to split the gates between other carriers. Bids must be in by Dec 1. It will be interesting to see who shows up.

Bloomberg News
Published November 9, 2004, 2:09 PM CST

AirTran Holdings Inc. may rethink its $87.5 million bid for some assets of ATA Holdings Corp. unless the low-fare airline gets all 14 gates it wants at Chicago's Midway Airport, AirTran's president said.

"We think there's a lot of value in getting all the gates,'' President Robert Fornaro told analysts at a New York conference sponsored by Citigroup Smith Barney. "If it doesn't turn out that way, we'll have to reassess it.''

Southwest would like about seven more gates at Midway, Chief Executive Gary Kelly said today. He said last month that growth in Chicago would be the airline's top priority for 2005.

"We've hired the necessary expertise to assist us in evaluating this whole bankruptcy process,'' Kelly said at the New York conference. "We'll be prepared to bid on some real estate at Chicago.''

AirTran wants the Midway space to add east-west routes to its primarily north-south system, Fornaro said. If AirTran doesn't get the Chicago gates, it "would continue to focus on the opportunities at hand'' such as more service at Dallas-Fort Worth, where Delta Air Lines Inc. is reducing flights, he said.

 

[Fly-By-Cable]

Robert Fornaro, also said at that conference that AirTran is never concerned about its market share, but only about its profitability. So if MDW situation doesn't look profitable, they will not fight bidding war, but instead find profit elsewhere. He started by saying that Midway is not a done deal.

 

[SWAdude]

I would be very surprised if SWA didn't get any gates. Especially the ones on the fingertip of our concourse. As I recall there are 4 or 5 at the fingertip of the B concourse that are ATA's. Makes sense to give those to SWA.

Plus we are MDW's best customer. There wouldn't be that nice new terminal if it wasn't for SWA.

This could get ugly.

SWAdude

 

[FarginDooshbahg]

This could get ugly.

SWAdude

Dude,

I don't think it will get ugly. I think Air Tran will decide they aren't interested, retract their offer, and SWA can have MDW to themselves. Then the ATA pilots will be complaing that SWA isn't merging them into YOUR seniority list by DOH even though all you are taking are gates.

 

[flynlow]

Dude,

I don't think it will get ugly. I think Air Tran will decide they aren't interested, retract their offer, and SWA can have MDW to themselves. Then the ATA pilots will be complaing that SWA isn't merging them into YOUR seniority list by DOH even though all you are taking are gates.

Oh that would be just terrible.
Actually I'd be more than happy to go to the bottom of SWA's list, even more so if pay protected at my current rate. Rumors of a Morris type deal are flying everywhere.

 

[SWA GUY]

Spoke to the HOU CP today. WN is NOT taking ANY of ATA's -800's. We don't want them at all he said. Why? The -700 works better for us for several reasons.

1. Additional flight attendents, operating the -800 would require more flight attendents. It would be like operating a fleet within a fleet. Too much trouble, already did that(727's).

2. The -700 can go much further off the shorter runways of MDW.

3. Wn would have to change the entire overhead panel and PFD's to match our -700's. Again too much trouble and cost.

Gates however, are a different story....

 

[ATA737CAPT]

so much for what the HOU CP says...

Unless he knows more than Gary Kelly....Also, we do fly them to the west cost, full of pax with no problem. Unless WN is planning to go overseas out of MDW with the 700, they really can't go much further!

Either way, we would be more than happy to work with WN for some kind of deal to save jobs unlike the vultures at valuejet.

Southwest Air says could add 60 jets in 2005
Tue Nov 9, 2004 02:41 PM ET
By Jon Herskovitz



DALLAS, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines Inc. (LUV.N: Quote, Profile, Research) sees steady growth for the airline in a struggling industry, and the low-cost carrier could add as many as 60 aircraft to its fleet this year, Chief Executive Gary Kelly said on Tuesday.

Southwest, which recently took delivery of its 400th aircraft, has delivery and retirement plans that will result in it adding 29 net aircraft to its fleet this year.

"We think we can probably take 50 to 60 airplanes in total, not incrementally, for 2005," Kelly said at an analyst meeting that was monitored via Webcast. He said that if Southwest added as many as 50 or 60 aircraft, that would be a record year for new aircraft for Southwest.

Southwest exclusively operates 737 aircraft from Boeing Co. (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) . Kelly said that apart from the deliveries of new aircraft from Boeing, Southwest may consider used 737 models on the market, reiterating an interest in 737-800 planes operated by bankrupt carrier ATA.

Kelly said the main focus of Southwest's growth in 2005 would be at Chicago's Midway airport and in Philadelphia, where it started operations earlier this year.

Kelly said Southwest was interested in bidding on gates that may be available at Midway due to ATA's withdraw and said a good number of new gates for Southwest would be about seven.

ATA parent Indianapolis-based ATA Holdings Corp. (ATAH.O: Quote, Profile, Research) sought bankruptcy protection in October. It is the largest presence at Midway.

Southwest has been the only consistently profitable major U.S. airline since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. It has relied on a model of no-frills service, simple airplane fleets and low operating costs to secure steady profits.

Kelly said recruiting, training and deployment of personnel were the main constraints to Southwest flying more passengers.

"We are not interested in growing just for growth's sake," Kelly.

Kelly said struggling rivals are flooding the market with seats for sale but once there is a shakeout in the industry, Southwest should thrive.

"The earning power of Southwest has not yet been realized," he said.

 

[furloughed]

Is there room at Midway to build 4 or 5 new gates?


furloughed

 

[ATA737CAPT]

Is there room at Midway to build 4 or 5 new gates?


furloughed

Not really...it's pretty tight already!

 

[FarginDooshbahg]

Rumors of a Morris type deal are flying everywhere.

I'm sure they're flying everywhere around ATA as a wishful thinking type deal. However, SWA will never get themselves into another "Morris type deal" and have said so publically numerous times.