Bright spot - Frontier's March Results

[HDA]

Everything is good news at Frontier. The culture is to even turn bad news into good news somehow. That's how many define a good attitude there. I wish F9 luck but the koolaid drinking is unbearable. Very good folks at F9 but many, not all, are gullible. Don't mean that to be a swipe at the good folks at F9. Just my observation.

Its a great place to work with tons of great people who are very happy with their job and want it to stay around for the long haul. So what if people are optimistic and "drink the koolaid". We are not stupid...we know that things are not looking good. Just trying to keep a great attitude in the midst of all this crap going on.

You are taking a swipe so fess up to what you do.

WoW! I made two posts today!!

 

[Cardinal]

I looked at your market cap - a tad over $70 mil. Equity minus cash on hand is around $23 mil. I'm not seeing much aircraft equity on the balance sheet. Can you expand on your previous aircraft equity comment?

That was a bit of an oversimplification on my part. A quick look, and I can see $300 million in aircraft equity, a noteworthy source for capital down the road, but not the end of the story, as there's at least $400 mil in various liabilities that would suck that well completely dry in the event of a liquidation.

Total equity is just shy of $200 million, market cap about $80 mil, assuming we don't burn through $120 million real quick and then shut down, the shareholders would still do alright.

 

[Andy]

Cardinal, thanks for the response. As a United employee, the LAST thing that I want to see is F9 go away. Your replacement would likely shred us to pieces in DEN.
Good luck to everyone over there.

 

[Bavarian Chef]

That was a bit of an oversimplification on my part. A quick look, and I can see $300 million in aircraft equity, a noteworthy source for capital down the road, but not the end of the story, as there's at least $400 mil in various liabilities that would suck that well completely dry in the event of a liquidation.

Total equity is just shy of $200 million, market cap about $80 mil, assuming we don't burn through $120 million real quick and then shut down, the shareholders would still do alright.

Dude, you're jinxing yourself.

 

[Tanker Clown]

Cardinal, thanks for the response. As a United employee, the LAST thing that I want to see is F9 go away. Your replacement would likely shred us to pieces in DEN.
Good luck to everyone over there.

Who would replace F9 in DEN? It doesn't look like anyone is in expansion mode.

 

[Cardinal]

Your replacement would likely shred us to pieces in DEN.

Seems like there is something of a Denver Detente that's been established; competition, but not a go-for-the-jugular blood-letting. Of course UA seems kinda pissed about the new Lynx routes like JAC and ASE.

 

[PSL]

I don't know if this qualifies as expansion at KDEN or just an aircraft flow modification for us ...

But according to the paperwork I saw ... May 10 will have us expanding our flights at KDEN by more than just a few.

Rumor is we are targeting KDEN for more and faster expansion. From what I have seen, our KDEN loads are impressive and I understand the yield is near the top of our producing cities.

Besides it taking 60 mins (or more) to get to the hotel ... the O&D traffic has been fantastic.

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/03/31/daily68.html

 

[Tanker Clown]

By "we" do you mean SWA I assume.

 

[PSL]

Yes 'WN' ... my apologies.

 

[Capi_Cafre']

After years of watching Alaska spin the same numbers to look good to their investors and bad to their employees I'd guess that there's a kernel of truth in there somewhere.

 

[Andy]

Seems like there is something of a Denver Detente that's been established; competition, but not a go-for-the-jugular blood-letting. Of course UA seems kinda pissed about the new Lynx routes like JAC and ASE.

Yes; it was an unspoken understanding prior to 9/11. Post-911, F9 expanded like nutso which I'm sure did not endear them to the boys in Elk Grove (now Wacker Drive). I figured that a peace had been established after we were chased out of our A gates.

My concern is that this'll be like Delta in Atlanta all over again. They crushed Eastern out of existance only to have a more aggressive critter replace Eastern.

 

[Andy]

I don't know if this qualifies as expansion at KDEN or just an aircraft flow modification for us ...

But according to the paperwork I saw ... May 10 will have us expanding our flights at KDEN by more than just a few.

Rumor is we are targeting KDEN for more and faster expansion. From what I have seen, our KDEN loads are impressive and I understand the yield is near the top of our producing cities.

Besides it taking 60 mins (or more) to get to the hotel ... the O&D traffic has been fantastic.

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/03/31/daily68.html

Crap. Nothing personal, but I'd prefer that you don't kill F9. That's probably why you guys are delaying retiring some airframes until the very end of the year. My guess is that almost all of your expansion this year is targeted to DEN.

Good luck F9.

 

[D-Bo]

Its a great place to work with tons of great people who are very happy with their job and want it to stay around for the long haul. So what if people are optimistic and "drink the koolaid". We are not stupid...we know that things are not looking good. Just trying to keep a great attitude in the midst of all this crap going on.

You are taking a swipe so fess up to what you do.

WoW! I made two posts today!!

Fine. It's a swipe. They make you think it's a great place to work. If they love you so much and it's so F'n great why does your LCC airline have 3 regional partners flying for it? If you guys are supposed to have more value and lower cost than everyone else how'd they get you guys to sign off on that and for the most part be happy about it. You think they love you. Wait until this sh*t gets worse. You'll see how much they really do.

Yup. It was a swipe. I get annoyed at the happy a** attitude when a lot of F9 folks use the most outragous ways to spin bad news into good. I'm not a grumpy person but that sh*t really pushes my buttons.

 

[cale42]

Just to set the record straight F9 has 2 regionals, not three and one of them is wholly owned meaning all the profits go to the same place. And it is a stated goal to have only the wholly owned one as soon as possible.

God forbid pilots try and be positive, the whole world might end.. as many people pointed out positive doesn't mean ignorant. It is possible to be positive while actively sending out resumes...

cale

 

[Charlie Brown]

I heard Frontier didn't make payroll. Is there any truth to this? I admit the source was a F/A.