Another bid to buy Midwest Airlines?

[gt1900]

717capt... Trust me on this one.. AAI doesn't have the money, nore will anyone finance them the money to buy Alaska.. The economics don't add up... And that is something I know a little about...Were not talking America West buying a struggling Usair.. Or Usair buying a struggling DAL.. This would be more like UAL buying American... Aint gonna happen.....Last time I checked, and it has been a while, Alaska has around 900 million in the bank and made around 85 million last year, they are not a struggling carrier, they are much stronger than AAI.... Me thinks that if there was a buyout/merger of the two, Alaska would buy AAI.. And they might not even need any outside financing to do it.. Both carriers are good companys.. But AirTran has a long way to go before they can compete with the caliber of a company like Alaska.... And in know way am I knocking AAI.. Its just two different beast..

 

[Flydaplane]

I don't think AAI would buy Alaska or Alaska would buy AAI, I think a merger of the two is definately possible.
Think about it this way, if DAL and NWA or USA merge and CAL and UAL merge, that leaves the little guys AAI, Alaska, JBlue, and Frontier at a huge disadvantage. To increase their competetive presence Alaska may need to expand East, and AAI may need to expand West (further than MKE). If all the experts are right (which I highly doubt), the whole industry is set up for a huge transition and there may end up just a few megacarriers remaining.

 

[FlyWolf]

What is the talk around Midwest now? What do you think your BOD will decide? Just curious. Thanks

I am sure we will either hear something today or Monday, but I am sure the BOD will say no thankyou and refer back to the stand alone 15% growth plan they announced last week.

 

[FlyWolf]

Posted this on another thread, but to answer your question, here is what I think...

Me thinks the AirTran MEH merger is a done deal
If I reflected on my career I would definately say I was not good at predicting the future...however, I think that AirTran has MEH wrapped up.

Why? Well I think Timmy hired Goldman Sachs to make himself look good by saying that they were trying to get a true value of the company. I'm sure Timmy knew at the time that Goldman Sachs was a significant shareholder in AirTran stock. They own over $22 Million dollars worth, something like 2,249,000 shares of Air Tran, according to Yahoo's finance page.
The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that he hired them to make himself look good to the people of MKE and the shareholders, but also so he could tell them the price he'd sell for (everyone knows that he basically tells the board what to do). So he walks away with more cash and at the same time makes it look like he put up a good fight.

Funny how in the press releases he put out he didn't disclose that Goldman Sachs was a major shareholder in the company trying to acquire MEH.

Anyway, I hope the additional $ doesn't hurt the future of AirTran too much. Hopefully, they'll still have cash to operate well and pursue other merger opportunities as well (Alaska?).

Very interesting Flytheplane, didn't know that, isn't this considered conflict of interest?

 

[Lear70]

I am sure we will either hear something today or Monday, but I am sure the BOD will say no thankyou and refer back to the stand alone 15% growth plan they announced last week.

May all your prognostications come true!

 

[ultrarunner]

Has MEH announced, offically, any growth plans other than Skywest??

 

[Taildragon]

Ya, two MD-80's to replace two MD-80's. You do the math. I think in new math terms its a positive, or was it a negative? Damn that hot girl in math class

 

[EX_CV580FR8Dawg]

Ya, two MD-80's to replace two MD-80's. You do the math. I think in new math terms its a positive, or was it a negative? dang that hot girl in math class

good one! hopefully if things settle down and MEH stands alone, we can get on with some sort of actual positive growth of the group.