Republic will be the next large National Airline

[bigbird]

Do you think this will work? Does Brian Bedford have what it takes? I dont see how this is a smart business move. Republic has a niche as a regional airline..Wouldnt it be a much different business model to run an independent airline? Republic is the most unorganized and screwed up company I have ever worked for. I cant imagine them working as their own carrier.

 

[Minimaniac]

There is no intention of becoming a major/national airline. Bedford is gaining assets, and plans on using those assets in their current capacities for now. Frontier will continue to be Frontier. There may be some 190's joining the Airbus, but that is no different than when RAH was flying contract 170's for Frontier. Frontier will sell its own tickets and so on. Frontier is a viable business that ended up in bankruptcy strictly because a credit card company changed the rules of ticket money collection without notice or just cause. The only difference is that those Frontier profits are going to go into Bedford's war chest.

As for Midwest, Bedford will continue to operate that as a stand alone carrier and try to keep the same market share it has enjoyed to date. Since boeing decided to take the 717's back, Bedford has seized the opportunity to employ some 170's and obtain some 190's. But, Midwest will operate as Midwest from a business standpoint.

Bedford will continue to use Republic, Shuttle America, and Chautauqua as regional lift providers. There may be some incest going on, with CHQ flying as a contract carrier for Midwest, and republic flying 190's for Frontier, but these will still be contracted carriers with someone else's paint job. United cannot punish RAH for having Republic fly for Frontier, because United does not contract with republic, they contract with Shuttle and Chautauqua. Likewise, Delta cannot dump Shuttle America and Chautauqua because RAH flies Midwest 190's on the Republic certificate. On the surface, it seems that there are conflicts of interest all over the place, but remember that much goes on behind closed boardroom doors. RAH just gave the string pullers of TGP a cash return on their investment that they otherwise would not have gotten. It may be dimes on the dollar, but money is money. US Airways has been pumped full of RAH money, and will not bite the hand that feeds. United may not like RAH owning Frontier, but United is not in a financial position to call the shots right now. At this point, United has a minor dependency on the lift RAH provides them.

No one likes to see multiple airlines playing on the same side. We all take pride in our companies to some degree, and hate to see anyone else gain an advantage in the market place. We also hate to see one man own more than one team, because we know that he does not care who wins. The only way we as pilots can benefit from all of this is to make sure that labor is not divided into multiple teams. At RAH, we are going to try to ensure that Bedford does not keep us physically divided from his newly acquired work groups. We may never have friendships and comraderie with the Midwest pilots or the Frontier pilots, but we need to be allied in fighting the dragons of Indianapolis.

 

[tomgoodman]

Beware

There is no intention of becoming a major/national airline. Bedford is gaining assets, and plans on using those assets in their current capacities for now.

I don't know Bedford's intentions, but some worry that he might do what Lorenzo did: keep the lines separate, bleed assets & cash from some into others, then dump the empty husks. Just the implied threat of doing such things can be a huge club in labor negotiations.

 

[Lilah]

I guess Bedford is well known for his religous mailings....would anybody here charactorize his actions as Christ-like? WWJD?

You be the judge.....

Lilah

 

[Minimaniac]

I guess Bedford is well known for his religous mailings....would anybody here charactorize his actions as Christ-like? WWJD?

You be the judge.....

Lilah

Capitalism is not Christian in nature. Economics is pretty far removed from religion.

 

[d.fitz]

Capitalism is not Christian in nature. Economics is pretty far removed from religion.

Bryan didn't seem to think so in his weekly company updates. He is a hypocrite and it's no surprise...

 

[anewunion]

Just hope it ends up better than Indy Air....

 

[Minimaniac]

Just hope it ends up better than Indy Air....

As party to the Indy Air death spiral, so do I.

 

[kf4amu]

It doesnt matter how unorganized your company is when your employees are willing to work for food stamp wages. I wouldnt be surprised if they take a pay cut to fly a bigger airplane.

 

[sshrae]

Its my understanding that Bedford did some jail time for insider trading, can anyone confirm this? If thats true that tells me that this guy is a total snake. Who the hell would believe anything this guy says. He would say whatever it takes to get f9 pilot group to give in and then have his way with the company. Even if f9 voted no the bk judge will waive the contract and the same fate will lay for f9 that happened with midwest. Very sad, I think this guy will be the new Lorenzo and Johnny O.

 

[jmreii]

Its my understanding that Bedford did some jail time for insider trading, can anyone confirm this? If thats true that tells me that this guy is a total snake. Who the hell would believe anything this guy says. He would say whatever it takes to get f9 pilot group to give in and then have his way with the company. Even if f9 voted no the bk judge will waive the contract and the same fate will lay for f9 that happened with midwest. Very sad, I think this guy will be the new Lorenzo and Johnny O.

These guys don't die, they just multiply!

 

[Flying the Line]

I would not put it past him to put money into virgin America and put it together with frontier and Midwest. To pay for all this he will sell chq and shuttle am. That's my prediction.

 

[lookin4better]

Just because its a " Major " doesnt mean anything .... American Eagle is a " Major " ..... just because its classified as such does not mean its a great place to work or pay well.

 

[S40Sailor]

How about code share? Midwest to code share with Delta, Frontier with United. Republic will keep on doing what they do best, Fee for departure,and undercut labor. They might run web sites and pretend they're selling tickets but the bulk of the revenues will be coming from the major partners.
Just wondering..

 

[Cornelius]

Virgin America isn't desperate for a buyer and branson has too much money, if they go down nobody will buy them. All their assets except employees would somehow make it to Virgin overseas, just a guess.



What about Spirit?? Rah could buy them maybe.

 

[Cornelius]

No disrespect intended for Spirit.

 

[airksk]

Bedford will continue to use Republic, Shuttle America, and Chautauqua as regional lift providers. There may be some incest going on, with CHQ flying as a contract carrier for Midwest, and republic flying 190's for Frontier, but these will still be contracted carriers with someone else's paint job. United cannot punish RAH for having Republic fly for Frontier, because United does not contract with republic, they contract with Shuttle and Chautauqua. Likewise, Delta cannot dump Shuttle America and Chautauqua because RAH flies Midwest 190's on the Republic certificate. On the surface, it seems that there are conflicts of interest all over the place, but remember that much goes on behind closed boardroom doors. RAH just gave the string pullers of TGP a cash return on their investment that they otherwise would not have gotten. It may be dimes on the dollar, but money is money. US Airways has been pumped full of RAH money, and will not bite the hand that feeds. United may not like RAH owning Frontier, but United is not in a financial position to call the shots right now. At this point, United has a minor dependency on the lift RAH provides them.


Only question is, how long does United have a contract with Shuttle and Chatauqua and how long is the Delta contract?

I can't believe these companies will be happy funding a competitor, and will be looking for reasons to dump the contract. With the number of regionals looking for contracts, I can't imagine that the contracts would be renewed if they can't find cause to dump them.

Bedford better have a plan for the future as a stand alone, I think it is coming no matter how clever he thinks he is.

 

[BeachBummer]

buy buy buy buy.....

sell sell sell sell everything!

iT'S THE twa, ata, united? way

 

[PBRstreetgang]

I guess Bedford is well known for his religous mailings....would anybody here charactorize his actions as Christ-like? WWJD?

You be the judge.....

Lilah

Some of the worst Mafia dons were devout Christians, some use it to try to scrub the filth off of their souls. Airline execs are no different, how else could they sleep at night and then stand in front of the mirror in the morning and not slash their own throats while shaving?
PBR

 

[huncowboy]

What about Spirit?? Rah could buy them maybe.

Well... nope. Spirit made money even in 2008 (although after some significant cuts), and made some of the best margins so far this year. It is also not in Ch11. Spirit has no obligations to RAH unlike F9 or Midwest had. So what is the parallel between NK or F9/Midwest? Zero, nada.

But more important than that, Indigo/Oaktree is not desperate for a buyer (Oaktree alone manages $30 billion), it is building a global network of ULCCs and it seems they are going ahead with that plan. Spirit in USA, Wizz Air in Central Europe, one coming into Russia, Tiger Airways in Asia, and now Spirit just bought Air Jamaica. 4 A320 deliveries were just comfirmed for 2010 (1 in March, April, May, September), 2 or more for 2011, 6/year starting 2012. Yeah I don't think the investors behind any of those above mentioned airlines need RAH to bail us out.

I think BBs hands will be full trying to figure out what to do with airplanes that did not break even when fuel was $50. It worked good as long the majors paid the bill at the pump. But the majors had finally enough from regional "jets" for good. Once those contracts will expire, all the regionals will have to face some deep cuts. Just watch out this Fall. It will be bleeding.