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When will Frontier Cease Operations?
Any guess how long Frontier can operate in the current conditions?..Allready Bankrupt how much longer can they drag this out? SouthWest Airlines is waiting in the wing to "eat thier lunch"..I think its only a matter of time (short time) and Frontier will fly into the history books as another failed carrier..Any other opinions??..
According to what I hear from the Denver media, F9 is actually gaining seat-miles flown, at least from the last report I saw. Reading between the lines from the quotes made by F9 media contacts, if WN is living off of the business missing from F9, they are not doing well! It looks like WN is gaining flyers from UA.
Things must look alot different concerning F9 when seen from here in Denver rather than as seen from other parts of the US. The feeling in general here is that there are still many, many loyal F9 flyers, and that F9 will turn out to be just fine, or to say it another way, if UA could get out of Chapter 11, F9 will too!
Numbers of loyal fliers cannot save F9 if fuel prices continue to rise. And F9 doesn't have a good cushion of cash reserves.
For now, I believe that "watchful waiting" is in order. I'm continuing to buy F9 tix, mainly because they're considerably cheaper than UA in the markets I'm traveling right now. I'm not booking more than a couple weeks ahead, however.
Frontier may be able to survive the summer, but when fall arrives and seasonal revenue declines occur, plus likely even higher fuel prices...I think F9's survival odds are maybe 50%.
It's not their fault; it's all about fuel prices at this point.
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Brian/\/\ You really should not come to Denver. Cold here. And snowy. And cold. Really, just stay away.
Any guess how long Frontier can operate in the current conditions?..Allready Bankrupt how much longer can they drag this out? SouthWest Airlines is waiting in the wing to "eat thier lunch"..I think its only a matter of time (short time) and Frontier will fly into the history books as another failed carrier..Any other opinions??..
I have 8 flights I'm taking on F9 between this coming Thursday and mid-July. I will continue to fly them until they get out of Chapter 11. If they go under I guess I will have to start taking Amtrak as I really dislike UA and WN.
F9 is also opening a few more "resort" routes such as DEN-BZN. For less than a 2 week window, DEN-BZN was over $380 while DEN-BIL was $177. BIL has much more business traffic than BZN reguardless of what people of BZN think. People fly in and out of BZN because they're tourists, non-locals or are doing something with MSU or Right Now Technologies. My friends who live in BZN fly out of BIL due to costs. I think F9 will be playing the waiting game on the fuel market but I don't know of any other DEN based folks quiting F9 because of the bankruptcy. Barclays, Chase and First Data should burn for this.
As a formerly loyal Frontier flyer on some routes, there is a simple secret that Frontier could use. Get to be more like Southwest. While all the other airlines are nickel-and-diming with bag fees, etc. Southwest isn't charging those fees.
Frontier would be quite surprised how much additional revenue they could make if they dropped the change fees. They could still charge $5 for Direct TV
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Quote:
Originally Posted by silverthief2
In my opinion, you're bizarrely obsessed with this.
Was thinking the same thing myself.
Seriously, there doesn't seem to be any sense that they're in major risk of ceasing ops. They're cutting costs more, fares are up, and kudo's to the management team for taking a a 20 percent pay cut while asking the employees for 10. Also, UA is continuing to reduce capacity.
On the other hand, the becoming just like any other airline is more of a threat. Hope they don't continue to go that way.
I have been on 3 F9 flights since they filed BK. My fares were a little higher than I usually pay and all of the flights were 90%+ load factors. They don't seem to be lacking for business in my experience.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by myleguy
I have been on 3 F9 flights since they filed BK. My fares were a little higher than I usually pay and all of the flights were 90%+ load factors. They don't seem to be lacking for business in my experience.
It doesnt matter how full the flights are if your loosing $$$..Simple math says you can only loose money for so long..my question is how long? SilverJet called it quits today..just wondering if you think Frontier is next or it will be another airline?
Take another look at my post. I wasn't saying anything abpout profitability. I was merely anecdotally affirming what F9 has been reporting: passenger numbers and yields are strong despite the BK
Sounds like they should be OK through the summer even if they don't secure additional financing, after that they need to make a deal with someone to get additional cash (or perhaps sell more aircraft?)
But if Oil continues to rise, all the airlines are going to be in trouble, not just F9. The question is, will the eventual government bail-out save the little-guys, or just the big carriers?
They just worked out a contract with First Data Resources (their credit card processor), who drove them into bankruptcy in the first place. Keep in mind, the only reason that Frontier declared bankruptcy was because of a unilateral change in the credit card holdback percentage by First Data Resources. The only option Frontier had to freeze the contract and force a negotiation was bankrupcy.
Frontier was not driven into bankruptcy by business fundamentals (although the business fundamentals are pretty grim for the entire industry right now). They were driven into bankruptcy by ONE supplier. I'd be fully confident booking them in the interim.
When will Frontier Cease Operations?
