Frontier Airlines

[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.

 

[StaySeated]

I heard it's supposed to be announced with the A320 delivery on July 20th. Also heard it is Indigo as the investor.

I can almost guarantee there will not be an announcement on the 20th, at least not the one we want to hear, but at this point anything is possible.

 

[Cornelius]

I don't believe it either, it is a good rumor though.

 

[king10pin02]

Spirit is run debt free(minus leases on planes/gates). Why would NK purchase F9 and be stuck with their debt. Spirit doesn't really use hub-spoke system so inheriting a pure hub like DEN makes no sense.

 

[Cornelius]

Spirit had debt before the IPO.

 

[fam62c]

I can almost guarantee there will not be an announcement on the 20th, at least not the one we want to hear, but at this point anything is possible.

The 20th is a Saturday, normally companies don't make press releases on weekends but anything is possible.

 

[brokedash]

The 20th is a Saturday, normally companies don't make press releases on weekends but anything is possible.

Maybe it will be after 5:00PM Eastern Time on Friday...

 

[gutshotdraw]

Maybe it will be after 5:00PM Eastern Time on Friday...

In DC they call that a "news dump" to try and slip embarrassing information past the media and hope nobody notices.

And it's been working well for, oh, about five years now.

 

[stillflyn]

Are there a bunch of pilots leaving Frontier for other airlines, or are the majority hoping for the best and sticking it out to see what happens?

 

[StaySeated]

I wouldn't say a bunch but we have guys leaving. We had a number of guys/gals leave for recall at AA (former TWA folks). We have had a few FO's leave for other airlines (spirit). We still have a bunch of folks flying in asia who took LOA back during BK and haven't returned yet.

I think most if not all are waiting to see how the separation plays out. There could be an announcement tomorrow during the conference call that may provide a little color on the "who" and the "what", but there are still a lot of unknowns even if we separate.

The Eischen award was a death sentence for most of the F9 list. I think it would be prudent for most to interview and at least explore other options. If we can unscramble the egg, great, if not I would like to have a "plan b".

 

[stillflyn]

Good luck....