I had meant to make this post a few weeks ago but work and the holidays got in the way.

Last month Bryan Bedford was the keynote speaker at the Power Breakfast in Milwaukee sponsored by the Business Journal. Here's a link to the article covering his appearance:

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee...o-staying.html

During his speech and the Q&A session that followed, Bedford made some interesting comments about Frontier's 2011 plans that merit some attention here. In particular:

Frequent Flier partnership/alliance

"Something else we’re also interested in next year is partnerships. Midwest used to have a partnership with Northwest and then Delta, which allowed our frequent fliers access to their international networks. We think that’s a critical component of our service proposition that we have to bring back. So, we’re talking to all of the legacy carriers in North America trying to find a good fit where we can reconnect with a global carrier.”

“There are some carriers that we are talking to where the relationship could go beyond just mile sharing. But we’re going to pursue all options through the first quarter of next year so that by summer we can bring back some travel options beyond our own network. Over the next five years, we want to take on more of a national scope. But to do it, we’ll have to have organic growth and a partner to give us access to a much, much deeper network.”

Frontier Commercials/Brand in Milwaukee

In March, we’ll have a whole new campaign coming out. That’s when we’ll unveil a whole new Frontier to Milwaukee.”

Interesting. I wonder what he means by a "whole new Frontier?"

Use of regional jets in Milwaukee

"We need the right assets in the right places. We need fewer of the smaller regional jets flying out of here and more larger capacity planes that allow us to offer competitive fares profitably. It’s about getting the right assets into the right markets.”

Expansion of the Milwaukee hub

“We do have a significant initiative going on next year in which we will bring in 10 additional Airbus aircraft and six additional 99-seat E-Jets. Those new aircraft will be used to expand many of our service offerings in our hubs in Milwaukee and Denver."

Installing Live TV on the E190s

“Television is available on all of our Airbus flights and we are evaluating in 2011 how to distribute television on the 99-seat E-190 jets.”