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.�

I think we will all be suprised by what happens this year.

Republic buys American?

I am getting kind of antsy for some new Frontier news myself. I hope 2011 has a ton of good news in it for the airline.

I think Republic buys is going to be the operative words. Maybe not another airline but I believe it will be something other than what was announced in the past.

Jetblue buys Republic? Perhaps, Bedford is shopping.

Republic trumps WN's offer for FL

A partnership with American would be amazing. A club lounge in Denver would be nice.

Me too--while I was obviously tongue in cheek with the recipient of their love (I think), acquiring somebody, or merging with somebody would be the most logical step. Unless they have rock-solid contracts, there is too much change in the industry for them to be confident on the path they are on with providing service to their legacy partners, and they are too small in their current incarnation to stand alone from a revenue standpoint--the logical thing is to continue to agglomerate if possible.

But this is of course, just speculation for fun...not like I looked at the balance sheet to figure out how they stand after the last few years of excitement.

Amen Ram.

That would get me to switch back to F9. Since the Republic acquisition I've gone back to UA. The whole different animal became a skunk.

If the plans don't include a website where you can change seats after booking the res, then I too would give F9 a "skunk" rating.

And a free flight map. And working IFE and ACTUAL priority boarding for Ascent and Summit members as opposed to after military and after those who will at least claim not to put a bag into the overhead bin but might anyway. And priority rebooking for Ascent and Summit members when an MX occurs as opposed to helter skelter process I saw last week in LAS with non revs and other airline deadheaders being taken care of first. And 21st century kiosks in the largest US airports. And getting the website not to crash after entering a user name and password and updating F9 miles flown in less than a week.

Were any of those things different before the bankrupcty court approved Republic's purchase of Frontier?

Somehow I think regardless of what Frontier/RAH does you will find fault with us.