Originally Posted by
traveller001
Perhaps if he had treated Frontier as he did Midwest... replacing everything with Republic metal and crews? They've upgraded a lot of Frontier Airbus metal at a very significant cost and still have much of the cost of the old structure.
They've added more planes but the majority of the Airbus fleet (leases) were already part of F9. It would have costed significantly more to replace them with anything else.
Originally Posted by
traveller001
Or to backup a few years maybe not even entertain the F9/YX deal and hope Republic can buy more larger aircraft to operate for other carriers since few were buying new aircraft for the shorter routes.
One thing is for certain at some point he decided he was "all in" if you're a poker player.
Hindsight is always 20/20. But the fat lady might be warming up. The FAPA agreement doesn't cover all they seem to be losing and the lowest travel highest loss Sep-Oct months fall well before most of the gains will be appreciated.
The reason they purchased Midwest and Frontier was to take control over their own future. 10 years from now they may not have any CPA contracts left which would leave them with nothing. Trying their own airline was an opportunity for them to control their future and not be left to the whims of the majors.
On the other hand, they are definitely not "all in" at this point. F9 is only one part of their business and currently the CPA side is very successful. If they decide that F9 is no longer viable they can let F9 file bankruptcy but that does not mean RJET files for bankruptcy. They are 2 different entities.