Frontier Airlines

[Shrek]

Bill Franke, the head of Indigo Partners, is still Chairman of Spirit. A position he's held since Indigo became majority owner in Spirit back in 2006. I wouldn't rule out a tie-in if Indigo's a majority partner in a Frontier buyout. They'd probably get other vulture capital firms such as Oaktree to join them in a Frontier purchase.

Thanks for clearing that up Andy - as soon as I read Saabrowski's post it showed a lack of understanding of the playing field. I didn't have the energy to inform him so I appreciate the post.

Saabrowski - if you read Oaktree Capital OR Indigo Partners in the news THEY are the guys behind Spirit (and other airlines at one point or another).

 

[Shrek]

Saab just a quick question - do you fly for Spirit right now ?

 

[Cornelius]

Johnsonrod, the C series was never supposed to come to the Frontier Certificate.

 

[johnsonrod]

Johnsonrod, the C series was never supposed to come to the Frontier Certificate.

Interesting. I thought Republic bought the slots for F9 because the aircraft are probably too big to be used with other partners due to scope. Any guesses on how Republic might use them now?

I guess they could sell the early delivery positions once the C-Series gets hot and make some cash...

 

[cbrown1]

spirit would be a good combo for them.

 

[SAABaroowski]

Thanks for clearing that up Andy - as soon as I read Saabrowski's post it showed a lack of understanding of the playing field. I didn't have the energy to inform him so I appreciate the post.

Saabrowski - if you read Oaktree Capital OR Indigo Partners in the news THEY are the guys behind Spirit (and other airlines at one point or another).

I'm well aware of who they are, however Spirit is no longer a private company and Indigo is no longer the majority shareholder.

And yes, I work for Spirit

 

[fam62c]

What does Frontier have that's valuable enough to make somebody want to purchase the whole operation?

 

[Cornelius]

fam62c, I often ask myself that every day. I have a couple reasons why and why not somebody would buy F9.

Why:
We have a centralized hub location in Denver which may be attractive to Spirit, JetBlue.
We are the lowest paid employee group out there.
We are setting record load factors.
We are among the few that are transitioning to the ULCC model which is predicted to be the future.
We showed a profit for 2012 and are expected to show the same profit for 2013.

Why not:
We don't own anything.
We are in central market competing against WN, Spirit, UAL.
We are in debt to our eye balls.
Our costs are going to over 8 cents even though labor costs are very low
Labor problems due to the seniority list integration with Republic.
Our margins are 2 - 4% which is pretty bad for ULCC model.

 

[Shrek]

I'm well aware of who they are, however Spirit is no longer a private company and Indigo is no longer the majority shareholder.

And yes, I work for Spirit

Fair enough

 

[gutshotdraw]

I need to reach a couple of friends at Frontier that have fallen out of touch.

Is there a company email address at F9 such as first initial, last name@frontier?

Thanks for the info.

And good luck if a buyout is underway.