Southwest Airlines' Bid Good News for Passengers, DIA

[lreynolds]

Word Thursday that Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is making an 11th-hour bid to acquire bankrupt Frontier Airlines may be good news for Denver passengers and for Denver International Airport.

In a news release, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly confirms that his airline, which first entered the Denver market in January 2006, hopes to outbid Republic Airways Holdings for the right to acquire Frontier.  Southwest topped Republic’s $108.8 million offer with its own tentative bid worth at least $113.6 million. And don’t be surprised if before this is over, either Southwest , Republic or both offer even more.

While Republic’s offer was already approved on July 13th by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, the bankruptcy court can entertain other bidders until this coming Monday. If two or more companies are vying for Frontier, an auction will be held on August 11th, according to the Associated Press.

Adding Frontier to  Southwest would give the combined carrier roughly one-third of the Denver market. While that would still trail United’s 50% share at DIA -- and should not face any anti-trust obstacles --  Southwest would emerge as a true, fiscally solid challenger to United’s dominance in Colorado.

to read more, visit: http://www.examiner.com/x-16299-Denver-Business-Commentary-Examiner~y2009m7d31-Southwest-Airlines-bid-for-Frontier-good-news-for-passengers-DIA

[GerSan]

I say, go for it! I work at DIA, although not for Southwest or F9. Getting you here was the greatest thing evah! The only thing that would top that is your purchase of F9. Yup, the F9 employees are apprehensive, if not just plain scared, of a takeover. There's the "regional pride" thing in there, too. But F9 is ailing, and with the current atmosphere in the industry, there is a much better chance for them to live on in some form under Southwest than under Republic, IMHO. Anyway, hope you go for it.... and BTW, I won't fly anyone but WN!

[Anonymous4230]

Southwest is losing boatloads of money in Denver. They have struggled to gain market share against Frontier. Solution? Buy Frontier. Those who believe this will be good for Denver and its traveling public are ignoring those facts. Fares will go up and service levels found on Frontier will disappear. The so called "Southwest affect" will not occur and, in fact, the opposite will happen. United and Southwest will develop a kind of equilibrium and fares will become much less competitive. Meanwhile, thousands of employees will lose jobs and Denver will be left with a choice of the clueless giant (United) or the cattle call of Southwest. The Gersan blog really misses the point. Frontier is profitable (even net of bankruptcy impacts)and Frontier will not "live on" under Southwest. Frontier will disappear just as fast as SW can phase out the Airbus aircraft. The Lynx operation will cease to exist and so inter-mountain fares such as Durango, Aspen etc. will skyrocket.