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Posted Jan 6, 2010
As we all know the travel industry in particular (and most all other industries for that matter) face some real challenges in 2010. Before we get started on my best guesses for what 2010 will bring the travel industry, we should first examine my best guesses from last year.
Posted Aug 13, 2009
"We said all along that we would only move forward on this deal if it proved to be the right decision for our Employees and financially prudent for our Company," said Gary Kelly, Southwest's Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO. "We have a mission to preserve and protect our Culture and the best interests of our Employees, Customers, and Shareholders. This was a great opportunity that required us to act fast. A lot of people worked very hard with every intention of making this work. We were fortunate to be in a position to examine the acquisition to see if it was the right decision for Southwest Airlines. We chose not to amend our bid to remove the labor requirement, a key reason our bid was not selected. Our congratulations to Republic Airways and Frontier Airlines."
Posted Aug 13, 2009
Here's the latest missive from the Southwest Airlines' pilot group, SWAPA, to its members. FAPA is the Frontier Airlines Pilot Association, the union that represents the Frontier Airlines' pilots.
Posted Aug 10, 2009
Southwest Airlines is holding a press conference in about 10 minutes to discuss its "sweetened" offer for Frontier Airlines. The airline submitted a binding offer of $170 million.
The airline issued a release in which it said,
Posted Aug 10, 2009
This week the big news in Airlineland (at least at this point early in the game) is the pending bankruptcy auction of Frontier Airlines.
Today is the deadline for interested parties to place their bids.
Could we see another "interested party" besides the two we already know about -- Republic and Southwest -- show up at the last minute?
I doubt it.
Posted Aug 6, 2009
Many customers have asked us what we think this means. We think it means that if Southwest is really serious about purchasing Frontier, they will beat out all other carriers and will indeed acquire Frontier. As you know, Republic has made an offer to purchase Frontier. Republic is a very capable carrier with a strong balance sheet for an airline. However, Southwest is much, much stronger and will prevail.
Posted Aug 3, 2009
If it's Monday and this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is not posted yet -- you know the reason. Yep, it's another monster earnings issue. This week we take a long look at the earnings results and dissect the earnings calls from United Airlines, JetBlue, Alaska Air Group, AirTran and Delta Air Lines.
Talk about a group with a split personality. Three of these airlines posted profits. Two didn't.
Posted Jul 30, 2009
Southwest made a counter-bid for Denver-based Frontier Airlines. Regional airline Republic (which operates regional jets on behalf of United, Delta, USAirways and others) made a bid for Frontier back in June which we previously commented on.
Posted Jul 30, 2009
The press conference with Southwest Airlines just ended.
Handling the call for the airline was Ron Ricks, Executive VP of Corporate Services and Corporate Secretary and Bob Jordan, Executive VP, Strategy and Planning.
The airline says their idea at this point at time is to initially operate Frontier Airlines as a separate entity until a certain point in time. But the eventual goal, they say, is to merge Frontier into Southwest in a "reasonable" amount of time.
Posted Jul 30, 2009
One of our PlaneBusiness Banter subscribers just passed along this information to us. It was communicated to employees via a Southwest Airlines' Today@SWA email.
The airline has a press conference scheduled for 2 p.m. CT to talk about the airline's bid.
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