Who's the other 3 suitors tring to buy Midwest?

[russtgol]

In all seriousness, I wouldn't be surprised if Air Wisconsin doesn't have any sort of private bid out there for Midwest. The owners of AWAC just made a bundle of cash through Usairways and are always looking and trying out to make their next buck.

Just my 2 cents, only time will tell

It would'nt surprise me one bit!

 

[maxblast72]

I wasn't aware Southwest had 18,000 pilots and 1,800 aircraft.

That's impressive.

BTW, pilot pay makes up about 2% of total non-fuel CASM at Majors. You could double your hourly rate and, on average, your CASM would go up about half a penny. Just a little tasty tidbit from the EF&A people in Herndon.

Lear70, if you do the math with Airtran, pilots are about 10% of the total nonfuel CASM, not 2%. Whoever is spitting out those % are using extremely old numbers.

Airtrans nonfuel CASM is just under 6 cents per ASM, so you are right doubling pilot pay would raise nonfuel CASM about a 1/2 penny but that would be about a 10% increase in nonfuel CASM. We need to be finding a way to make Airtran more efficient so we can get closer to Southwest pay and keep our nonfuel CASM industry competitive like they do.

 

[Lear70]

That's the argument management is using, and I don't buy it. Are you advocating not getting better pay?

Southwest is successful with a higher non-fuel CASM with almost double the F/O pay, 50% higher CA pay, and health bennies that cost 90% less than ours.

If you want to use Southwest as a model? fine, we can do that; give us their pay scale and we'll STILL be under their non-fuel CASM and the company can figure out how to make it profitable.

There's only so many ways to squeeze the lemon. The company is operating on a shoestring budget trying to play like a major player and those two don't go together long-term. Unless we market this airline better AND attract and retain top-notch customer service talent, this airline will never be more than what it currently is. That means spending more money in order to make more money.

I don't want to bankrupt my own company by ANY means, but maybe there's a REASON Southwest pays better and is successful...?

Just a thought.

 

[lowecur]

The 3 other bidders should come out in the next few weeks.

What you all seem to be forgetting are hearings in committee before both houses if there is any scent of anti-trust between the chosen suitor and YX. A NWA or SWA winning bid would certainly trip warning alarms and may stand very little chance of boning up to anti-trust scrutiny due to the close proximity of dominant hubs in this central part of the country.

FL and YX are the rightful marriage partners because of it's fleet commonality and FL's lack of dominance in this geographical area. Since FL has directors on the board of YX, they know who the competition is. The bid will probably get driven up past $500M, and financed by the cash on hand at YX and diluting FL stock with another 35M shares. The market has taken this all into consideration based on the stock price of FL today. The synergy is there, and it's my guess they will get the job done.

Then we will move onto F9/B6 next. Won't happen for a year or so as private equity buyers want both stocks to take a further tumble (particulary B6). B6 stock needs to drift down in the $6 range.

One thing that will be learned by YX deal is the houses of Congress have no intention of making dominant carriers in the region any more dominant than they are today.

imp:​

 

[deadstick]

In all seriousness, I wouldn't be surprised if Air Wisconsin doesn't have any sort of private bid out there for Midwest. The owners of AWAC just made a bundle of cash through Usairways and are always looking and trying out to make their next buck.

Just my 2 cents, only time will tell

I was thinking about this, too. That would keep it somewhat "hometown." Many have neen wondering what was up with the lack of growth with Air Wisc. YX just started service with CRJ's and look who has a lot of CRJ's...

hmmm...

 

[Fly4hire]

The 3 other bidders should come out in the next few weeks.

What you all seem to be forgetting are hearings in committee before both houses if there is any scent of anti-trust between the chosen suitor and YX. A NWA or SWA winning bid would certainly trip warning alarms and may stand very little chance of boning up to anti-trust scrutiny due to the close proximity of dominant hubs in this central part of the country.

imp:

I doubt very much an airline the size of Midwest would come onto the anti-trust radar. NWA would not even have to call it a hub, but a satellite base.

 

[BoilerUP]

I was thinking about this, too. That would keep it somewhat "hometown." Many have neen wondering what was up with the lack of growth with Air Wisc. YX just started service with CRJ's and look who has a lot of CRJ's...

I can't help but think the Amigos would have done this back in December to secure the RJ RFP if they were really interested...the market price for Midwest is nothing but higher now with AirTran's bid.

 

[lowecur]

I doubt very much an airline the size of Midwest would come onto the anti-trust radar. NWA would not even have to call it a hub, but a satellite base.

If NWA were to somehow escape antitrust review by the houses of Congress, they would then have to maintain pricing similar to XY's to avoid scrutiny and a possible lawsuit by the Wisconsin and Missouri AG's. NWA could then be subject to paying triple damages if they did not maintain similar pricing, if such a lawsuit were successful....a painful price to pay for the privilege of keeping FL from controlling MKE/MCI.

There are a number of arguments that could cause various committees to ask for hearings. YX also has a minihub at MCI that would hand control of that airport to WN. Control of an airport has never been considered a reason for filing antitrust actions in the past, but that doesn't mean hearings and actions in the future aren't possible due to the strength of both airlines in the region. WN is quickly headed in a direction where they can no longer be counted on to be the low price leader due to their increasing cost structure. Giving them control and pricing power in (2) markets may prove detrimental to the consumers of those markets as WN continues to increase ticket prices. FL has been more stable in the last 12 months with their cost structure, and this is an argument that will be brought to the forefront if necessary.

imp:​

 

[AA717driver]

If NWA were to somehow escape antitrust review...

OBERSTAR! OBERSTAR! OBERSTAR!

Oops. Sorry, I thought I was the General for a second.

As I said on this thread on the LCC board, AA is interested because they want the 717's and need a reliever for ORD since it's at capacity. TC

 

[~~~^~~~]

Skywest

That is what I'm thinking also. It will be interesting to see what Delta and United think of this idea.

SkyWest may not care what Delta and United think. Independence, with better revenue management anyone?