New letter from Airtran's Joe Leonard regarding Midwest

[CitationLover]

Not a good comparison between DAL/UAL and Midwest (or Frontier) in terms of regional jet flying block hours. Like comparing an ant hill to the Sears Tower. Midwest has a much higher percentage compared to DAL/UAL of subsidiary flying.

do you have hard numbers to back this up? read united's and delta's latest 10-K's and annual reports. all of their regional affiliates are the fastest growing blocks of flying. sure it is not a good sign at midwest, but that doesn't mean skywest is buying them as you say. look at the breakdown of their asm's between mainline and affiliate. then look at midwest/skyway, but add 300% to skyway's to approx. skywest and you will see they are pretty similar to delta and united (about 20-25% of ASM's).

 

[Kharma Police]

do you have hard numbers to back this up? read united's and delta's latest 10-K's and annual reports. all of their regional affiliates are the fastest growing blocks of flying. sure it is not a good sign at midwest, but that doesn't mean skywest is buying them as you say. look at the breakdown of their asm's between mainline and affiliate. then look at midwest/skyway, but add 300% to skyway's to approx. skywest and you will see they are pretty similar to delta and united (about 20-25% of ASM's).

If you are fine with the growth of Skywest at your company than more power to you. AirTran is offering 737/717s flown by Midwest pilots, not an RJ flown by another carrier. AirTran tried RJs for awhile then realized that we could make more money without them, hopefully you guys will have different and better results.

 

[CitationLover]

If you are fine with the growth of Skywest at your company than more power to you. AirTran is offering 737/717s flown by Midwest pilots, not an RJ flown by another carrier. AirTran tried RJs for awhile then realized that we could make more money without them, hopefully you guys will have different and better results.

i don't think anyone is "fine" with regional flying or the growth of it at midwest, it is simply a response to your smartalecky "skywest" purchase comment.

we will know the direction of this deal by the end of the week.

 

[Kharma Police]

i don't think anyone is "fine" with regional flying or the growth of it at midwest, it is simply a response to your smartalecky "skywest" purchase comment.

we will know the direction of this deal by the end of the week.

My apologies, but if we don't buy you, someone else will. The same holds true for AirTran.

 

[CitationLover]

My apologies, but if we don't buy you, someone else will. The same holds true for AirTran.

yes, frank lorenzo said that one time!

i would imagine 100% of the people wish for air tran than skywest. it is fear of the unknown that is driving the debate (if there is any) within the midwest pilots. at least with no air tran deal, it is the status quo. again i am not a midwest pilot yet, flywolf could better answer the internal debate.

personally, I like the smaller airline, knowing most people you work with, niche carrier feel.

 

[Flydaplane]

Simple, with a merger the MEH MEC goes away (after the integration period) and they actually have to fly the line. Power drives men to do strange things. I wonder how many of their trips have been dropped over the past year for "union business"? Oh yea, we can't see that because they've "blocked" their schedules. "We're not trying to hide anything" "we just do this for personal reasons"...yeah right!

 

[Donsa320]

Simple, with a merger the MEH MEC goes away (after the integration period) and they actually have to fly the line. Power drives men to do strange things. I wonder how many of their trips have been dropped over the past year for "union business"? Oh yea, we can't see that because they've "blocked" their schedules. "We're not trying to hide anything" "we just do this for personal reasons"...yeah right!

In the past on many carriers, the MEC Chairman NEVER flew. This was to protect him from any hostage taking. If you don't know what that means you have not been around long enough.

 

[CitationLover]

In the past on many carriers, the MEC Chairman NEVER flew. This was to protect him from any hostage taking. If you don't know what that means you have not been around long enough.

i'll second that. even some other ALPA personnel (like the grievance chairman) are alloted this also.

 

[CitationLover]

well they said no thanks.

http://www.midwestairlines.com/MAWeb/midwestMiles/programNewsDisplay.aspx?id=26

the biggest catch for me was this statement.

"As of March 31, 2007, Midwest had approximately $171 million of cash, representing more than $6.50 per share. According to AirTran, the cash portion of the revised offer and related expenses is approximately $240 million. Therefore, Midwest's cash on hand represents more than 70% of the cash estimated by AirTran necessary to complete the proposed acquisition."

i know the conspiracy theorists would like to say this is tim's doing, but the decision was unanimous by the board and goldman sachs told them don't do it. you've got to admit its a little fishy to have originally offered less than the cash on hand at midwest and now only a 30% premium over said amount (excluding the 51% stock swap).

 

[mnboyev]

Here fishy fishy....yup..fishy..flat out fishy...