Midwest Airlines

[CitationLover]

Is it a D.B. fund or a D.C. fund?

If it's a D.B. fund, it would, more than likely, have to be converted somehow; I really don't know what happens in that case.

Midwest is being acquired and operations merged. I imagine that means you'd fall under our defined contribution after the acquisition, have no idea how they'd deal with the D.B. fund...?

yes it is an old school DB plan in addition to our DC plan. the DC plan balance is then "carved out" of the DB plan.

DC fund would be easy, simply transfer the account balance.

 

[deadstick]

Hey...how about that quarterly report!!! Did I read this right? Midwest drops 44%, and Airtran goes up 30%. I listened to the call last night on Yahoo. The Q&A part at the end is interesting.

 

[CitationLover]

Hey...how about that quarterly report!!! Did I read this right? Midwest drops 44%, and Airtran goes up 30%. I listened to the call last night on Yahoo. The Q&A part at the end is interesting.

i am sorry to hear your dad beat you as a young child.

 

[deadstick]

i am sorry to hear your dad beat you as a young child.

...!?!?!

 

[CitationLover]

...!?!?!

well you seem to like the fact that despite the hard working efforts of 400 flight crewmembers the results were not as good as we expected them to be. in addition, despite the hard working efforts of your 1500 pilots (who are actually told they ARE the reason for their success), they are still told how much they are worth with this TA.

 

[deadstick]

well you seem to like the fact that despite the hard working efforts of 400 flight crewmembers the results were not as good as we expected them to be. in addition, despite the hard working efforts of your 1500 pilots (who are actually told they ARE the reason for their success), they are still told how much they are worth with this TA.

1) I'm just standing on the sidelines looking in, ie not with AirTran.
2) I have been a fan of Midwest for years. I always loved the customer service and the people. Call me a nostalgia junkie, but I liked the fact that Midwest kept the bar high and tried to make air travel a pleasure, and not a pain. I had to fly AirTran quite often at an old job (b/c of schedule and route). I HATED going through ATL. I also hate going to WalMart at peak hours -- both places are insane!
3) Like many operations, the focus is on leadership. It’s the leadership at Midwest that seems to be faltering on the business side, and that of AirTran seems to have problems with rewarding their people for a job well done. At Midwest, there seems to be a lot that needs to be done, too. However, much of that requires cash. They have some reserve, but when you make less that $5M in Q2, it’s hard to do.
4) They didn’t do too good at fielding the questions after the report. It was similar to somebody testifying in front of Congress a repeating “I do not recall.” over and over again (“The board took no action”). The gal from Lightspeed might have been looking for a quick buck, but she did ask some valid questions. The style of the presentation and the Q&A session just didn’t seem to be a shining moment for MEH.

Part of me hopes the take over doesn’t go. I see AAI making Midwest the surviving carrier for the name and then drastically lowering the quality of customer service. On the other hand, I’d like to think I’m a practical man. In reality, it just doesn’t look good for the home team: the shares tendered, the drop in Q2 earnings, vague references to long term value/plan.

That’s all. Standing by for August 10….

 

[deadstick]

FWIW, other releases are down-playing AAI and focus on alternatives.

NEW YORK, July 31 (Reuters) - Midwest Air Group Inc. (MEH.A: Quote, Profile, Research), said on Tuesday that it plans to begin talks with AirTran Holdings Inc. (AAI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) regarding its proposal to acquire Midwest.
Midwest, which said its board of directors has formed a committee to explore strategic and financial alternatives, said it will also hold discussions with other strategic and financial parties that have recently expressed interest in Midwest.
Midwest said there is no assurance that the process will result in a transaction with AirTran or any other party.

 

[GOULET!]

" it will also hold discussions with other strategic and financial parties that have recently expressed interest in Midwest."

Joey Leonard better be ********************ting his pants right now. There is no way this is a done deal with AirTran. Bet SkyWest has thrown their hat in the ring for Midwest seeing how they are already flying 15 CRJ's for them and are looking for bigger aircraft. Also a chance a financial institution comes in to keep it a stand alone carrier. This one is far from over everybody.

 

[CitationLover]

" it will also hold discussions with other strategic and financial parties that have recently expressed interest in Midwest."

Joey Leonard better be ********************ting his pants right now. There is no way this is a done deal with AirTran. Bet SkyWest has thrown their hat in the ring for Midwest seeing how they are already flying 15 CRJ's for them and are looking for bigger aircraft. Also a chance a financial institution comes in to keep it a stand alone carrier. This one is far from over everybody.

So Tim H. won't sell his baby to another narrowbody operator because of his legacy, etc, but will sell it to the mormon regional operation?!?! uh yeah!

 

[Lear70]

Joey Leonard better be ********************ting his pants right now.

I seriously doubt it.

There is no way this is a done deal with AirTran. Bet SkyWest has thrown their hat in the ring for Midwest seeing how they are already flying 15 CRJ's for them and are looking for bigger aircraft.

Skywest... riiiiight. With financing from WHO with Midwest's failed business model?

Also a chance a financial institution comes in to keep it a stand alone carrier.

Again, what financial institution would attempt a bidding war to gain a bunch of orphan 717's and a failed business model? Throw good money after bad, BRILLIANT!

This one is far from over everybody.

The fat lady is warming up backstage. The only fly in the ointment is Northwest... If they stay out of it, there's no one else with a REALISTIC shot at it.