knope2001

I wonder if the DEN event talked about the cookie as much as the MKE event did? The cookie is an icon like the tails. Plus the TV is not necessarily going to go onto the E190 or E170, so talking it up might have been problematic.


Isn't that a curious one? I'm sure we'll find out eventually. It will almost certainly need to be expanded to include the full route system or dropped. Currently AirTran and Frontier compete just on ATL-DEN and MKE-DEN, and that's been no big deal, apparently.

I guess when it comes down to it, we all looked for more questions to be answered today. They will in time. In the mean time, it gives us more to speculate about!


Goes without saying.... :-)

Dick Ginkowski

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Hoaxema, as it turns out, sold out Midwest and Bedford sold out Milwaukee. Perhaps a "Best Care Air" could have embodied the best of Frontier and Midwest but this is akin to Delta's killing off Northwest and maybe worse. As for Bedford, my thoughts are not printable except to say that he's not the type of guy that I'd trust with my change on the bar.

mke9499

It looks like the credit for these goes to Dan O'Donnell of WTMJ radio for uploading to YouTube:

Voiceover of John Mahoney
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z82j2...layer_embedded

Badger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJH8ZMhFcpQ

RSVP

Does anyone recall Hoeksema's comments when he announced the sale to Republic?

"This sale will allow us to maintain the Midwest brand".

How things have changed in nine months.

mke9499

Perhaps he was given a verbal commitment by Republic, but obviously nothing in the purchase agreement.

knope2001

The venom for Hoeksema at this point is really kind of pathetic.

The moment Republic got Frontier, it was pretty obvious that keeping the two airline brands separate would be a difficult and unlikely path long term. Had Southwest gotten Frontier, it probably would have turned out differently.

As tiresome as it can be dredging up the old Midwest versus AirTran takeover debate again and again, at least the Midwest vs AirTran competitive fight is an ongoing active one. Hoekesma lost control of the company when TPG took over, a deal accpeted 32 long months ago today. He was pretty much just a figurehead in the TPG days and been out of the picture since Republic came.

RSVP

Perhaps the agreement specified X number of months. What does Tim care? He took the money and ran.

MKE 1K

Those sneaky executives - he said the brand would remain but never for how long. Deep down I think he knew it was a matter of time.

But didnt the Frontier deal come after the YX one? Maybe he was told it would stay, but once Frontier was thrown into the mix things changed.

mke9499

Perhaps we will hear the whole story one day, after he pens his long-awaited book.

BlueHorseShoe2000

What Hoeksema said last summer may have very well been accurate at the time.

Remember, Republic and Southwest were battling over Frontier. It wasn't even certain that Republic would end-up with Frontier. Besides, that Frontier sale didn't close until last October anyways.

If Republic lost the Southwest bid, the Midwest name may have survived. Perhaps there were even plans to operate Frontier/Midwest similar to how Alaska/Horizon operate.

At this point, does it really matter?

alphaeagle

Wonder if we are going to see this animal on any tails soon:
Link

hazelrah

He did maintain it; he maintained it for 9 months

hazelrah

Refreshing the memory of everyone is entirely germain. As I've noted before it is not uncommon in the business of merger and takeover to search for a benign partner, a "white knight" as it were. How gravely mistaken was the ex-CEO in his choice.

IMO the approval granted for NW to purchase Midwest should never have been given. In today's regulatory environment I don't think it would have passed muster. The demise of Skyway affected many small communities negatively.

The fact is is that Midwest was not viable as a stand-alone. This is borne out empirically;with today's announcement the last vestige of Midwest will soon be gone.

Air Tran was near spot-on off its analysis of Midwest 4 years ago; and this analysis has been vindicated in entirety. Milwaukee is a vibrant and growing market, and Air Tran has grown its MKE hub organically.

Bedford identified clearly his vision for the product as a low-fare carrier; and the Midwest brand was out-of-sync with this vision.

I'll be retiring from the Midwest board at this point -last post. Good luck to you all whether your plans are to stick with Frontier, or to opt for the transfer in MSP, DTW, or ATL, or ORD

MikeFromMKE

How did Bedford sell out Milwaukee? He has brought almost 400 new jobs in already, breathed life into a carrier that was on it's last legs and is now merging that carrier with one poised for long term growth in Denver and in Milwaukee.

WIRunner

or CLE or EWR.