>>>Wow. I didn't know SWA was going after Frontier. Is it because of their gates? I'm seeing the synergies with this purchase?
I was hoping Republic would by Frontier. That looks like a better complement with their purchase of Midwest Airlines.<<<
Southwest and the new boss wants to be the major playing in Denver - BADLY. They have been unable to be the cost/fare leader in this market (Frontier continues to control fares), and has hurt yields and loads. This is a cheap way to acquire a competitor, remove them from the market, and gain market share and also pricing control of the market. Fares will likely go up in most cases, especially in the advanced booking windows. However, this does get Southwest more gates/slots in DEN and other key airports like LGA. Look back to the asset acquisition of ATA that Southwest did. ATA provided good competition out of MDW, but got throw into Chapter 11 when their military charter contracts got cancelled by FedEx (who controlled the one ATA was attached too). Southwest took advantage of the great opportunity to get more gates in Chicago, but also eliminate a competitor. AirTran was the other bidder for ATA, but Southwest beat them out. It will be interesting to see how the battle in Milwaukee plays out with Southwest going in there now to hit on a weakened Midwest (now part of Republic) and AirTran.
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>>I Think it would be a great asset for Southwest to buy Frontier Airlines. The people that work for Frontier (those that love their jobs) will now feel secured that they can continue working. In these hard times, Its great to see company's helping eachother out in a way that might save many jobs for those that might be out. I don;'t know how Southwest will handle that, But I am hoping that SWA gets it. Perhaps more gates, more flights and MORE HAPPY PEOPLE IN THE AIR.<<
Southwest has already said that Frontier employees will be given the ability to RE-APPLY for their jobs within Southwest should they find a need to increase staffing. As noted elsewhere, Southwest is already overstaffed some and has plenty of cushion to absorb them. They will get more gates in DEN and other airports, but the Frontier fleet goes away, and they'll likely absorb most of the traffic with their existing network or with a few more legs added to some routes. There will also likely be a handful of cities cut because of this.
>>>Kind of curious... I know that Southwest has a standardized Boeing fleet. Their business has thrived in part because of uniform equipment, service, policies/procedures that have remained consistent over the years. Yet Frontier's fleet is all Airbus. So I wonder, if the acquisition is completed and the Frontier fleet absorbed into Southwest, will that add operational challenges and increased costs to the business?<<<
Paul - the Frontier fleet will be grounded with in 1-2 years it sounds like. Southwest has a glut of 737s on order, they've even had to park some recently, so they'll be replaced pretty quickly.
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Ask the employees of Morris Air and TranStar just how well it went for them when Southwest bought their companies out to eliminate competition. Oh ya...reinterview for their own jobs, if they were lucky, but most got put out on the street. Sorry no thanks. Don't treat us like idiots.
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