USA TODAY: Southwest Beating Republic to Frontier

[inbound]

LUV would send a horrific blow to United..... along with every company who fly's for them. Good or bad I have no idea anymore. When did Southwest become the good guy?

 

[sshrae]

Bedford also will have a bunch of cash when SWA repays the loans made to Frontier by Republic. Bedford has set this up as a win win situation for himself. He wins if Republic has the best bid, or he wins when the winner has to cut him a check which he can use to invest in Midwest.

He doesn't want a check, he wants his own LCC. Not just Midwest but a large LCC that puts RAH in a more competitive position.

 

[Indy319FA]

He doesn't want a check, he wants his own LCC. Not just Midwest but a large LCC that puts RAH in a more competitive position.

Agreed. The point I was making is either way, he gets something and does not lose the cash invested in Frontier.

 

[sshrae]

Agreed. The point I was making is either way, he gets something and does not lose the cash invested in Frontier.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think BB is done with the auction, I'm just not sure that he will be able to match what swa can pay.

 

[pb1900]

If southwest aquires Frontier they will slowly phase out the airbuses and add 737's. They will then give preferintial hiring to the frontier pilots. If republic buys frontier they will intergrate the seniority lists possibly and expand frontier. So which is better? Southwest is simply buying out competition while republic is trying to expand frontier.

 

[Indy319FA]

Don't get me wrong, I don't think BB is done with the auction, I'm just not sure that he will be able to match what swa can pay.

I agree. In his town hall last month, he seemed much more interested in discussing Midwest than Frontier so all this could have been an effort to protect the investment in Frontier and draw other bidders out. Either way the investment in Frontier is protected. We'll find out how much he wants Frontier on the 11th.

 

[banditdriver]

I was told that the southwest offer was 8 mil more than the RAH....

Sorry no undercutting here Im pretty sure they are serious about a FU to RAH.

 

[curtaindriver]

Southwest will not be outbid, because they have the most to gain, and the most to lose. There will be no seniority integration. Frontier flies an incompatible aircraft to the Southwest fleet. The only things they bring to the table are gates and market share. There are no laws that apply to integration in this matter between 2 non union carriers. Frontier pilots will get a chance to interview, and if successful, will be newhires at the bottom. Not all Morse Air pilots were hired, and the ones that were went to the bottom as new hires--Morse Air flew 737's but they were 200's, which Southwest did not want because they were retiring the ones that they had.

It's Morris Air, dude

CD

 

[DoinTime]

If they do integrate, its my understanding that the law states there has to be relative seniority integration. After the American TWA debacle that law was passed.

The McCaskill-Bond legislation only applies if there is merger of the carriers. I don't think you would see a merger of Frontier and SWA. SWA would just grow their operation and shut down Frontier over time. This allows them to hand pick the new people from Frontier that they want to keep so that they can preserve their "culture" they speak so much of. The non-desirables will be left behind like in every other SWA acquisition.

 

[sshrae]

The McCaskill-Bond legislation only applies if there is merger of the carriers. I don't think you would see a merger of Frontier and SWA. SWA would just grow their operation and shut down Frontier over time. This allows them to hand pick the new people from Frontier that they want to keep so that they can preserve their "culture" they speak so much of. The non-desirables will be left behind like in every other SWA acquisition.

The McCaskill bond, that is the name I was looking for. Thanks for the clarification. I agree, this would make the most sense for SWA. I was not aware that the bond differentiated between being bought and merged. I can tell you there are more than a few F9 people who would not fit in with SWA.