You'll just have to wait a bit longer to find out :D

Blue - you are in a :D mood today. I have the impression that you were satisfied or pleased with the event yesterday.

C'mon...Does anyone on this board truly believe that either of these airlines want to enter MKE? As a consumer I welcome it, bring them in!!!

From an infrastructure standpoint, does MKE have the space to add these? Especially with the supposed expansion plans of F9 and FL...Maybe there will be, if WN continues to reduce flights.

Secondly, has the economy recovered enough for these two airlines to take the risk and enter possibly the most competitive market in the nation?

Hoss and Blue...Thanks for the inside look into yesterday's presentation...Ever since these two airlines got together and started integrating equipment I have been a big supporter and think that both of them were solid airlines that will complement each other really well...I look forward to seeing the change over the coming years.

Either of the two listed, I doubt it, but I would have to bet that Southwest is going to look at a new MKE-DEN nonstop. If Frontier has a couple of flights that have decent loads, I do not think that they will be far behind in getting one going.

LOL...I may have had too much coffee this morning.

Overall, I was pleased with yesterday's announcement. I find what Republic is doing with Frontier/Midwest fascinating. If Bedford can pull this off, he'll be a true visionary in the airline industry.

There are certainly challenges ahead for Republic but I'm optimistic about the future.

Here's a little food for thought about an opportunity that may present itself in the future. There have been numerous reports over the last week or so that United and U.S. Airways are in merger talks. If it actually comes to the point were these two carriers hook-up, the DOT will require them to divest assets at certain airports (this was a requirement back in 2000 when both carriers announced plans to merge) to level the playing field. United and U.S. Airways have enormous overlap in Washington, D.C. With Dulles serving as a major international hub, focus would probably shift to downsizing DCA. Guess who is the largest slot holder at the airport? It’s Republic, which holds about 150 slots and leases them back to U.S. Airways. They could create a nice little focus city at the airport if everything breaks their way. Imagine what opportunities might also become available if the perimeter restrictions are lifted.

For years and years Sorensen's big threat was that Southwest would come to Milwaukee and mop up. Now they are here, and not exactly catching fire (at least so far). So now his big threat to alarm everyone about is JetBlue or Spirit. For his sake I hope those airlines don't come to Milwaukee or his schtick will be degraded to warnings that Amtrak and Iceland Air coming to set MKE straight. Or maybe he's waiting for the Great Pumpkin.

JetBlue to MKE would be amazing. Non-stop flights to JFK, BOS, OAK and maybe Long Beach.
Spirit is a completely different thing. I lost respect for them when they started charging for carry on baggage.

The reason why there are no cows on the tails of Frontier aircraft...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyZYi7WZz-U


LOL

I could see JetBlue, Frontier and AA doing a full blown code share. Also being part of OneWorld would be a bonus. Then AA could move to D Concourse and JetBlue could finally come to MKE. Move WN and Great Lakes out of Concourse D. Let Oneworld have all of D at MKE.

Republic has some very valuable assets at DCA and LGA. I expect them to be able to leverage them in the future. Especially when the legacies start renegotiating or dropping contracts after they expire with regionals. A small Frontier hub on the East Coast would be fantastic.

Yesterday's news is playing well in the local MKE media:

(1) There has been rather little specifically bemoaning of the loss of the hometown airline. A lot more wording along the lines of "Milwaukee's hometown airline is now a part of Frontier Airlines", as opposed to "Milwaukee's hometown airline is dead".

(2) There have been lots of statements along the lines of "little will change" and "implementing the key parts of Midwest into Frontier".

(3) The tails of Frontier seem to be receiving a positive reception -- several newscasts even played part of the welcome-the-badger commercial, and the newspeople remarked positively.

(4) For several years, nearly every bit of Midwest Airlines news was framed with the AirTran buyout, the TPG buyout, and AirTran's subsequent growth here. Pretty much nobody framed the news this way.

(5) The quick news on local sponsorships and brandling such as the Midwest Airlines Center was a key move done correctly. Report after report from various local sources has mentioned this, and it is something of a reassurance to the community.

(6) As stupid as some think the cookies are, they are a touchstone to the "old" Midwest...their inclusion has been universally mentioned in local and national media. I just hope they spring for the EZ-bake ovens on the Airbus to make sure they are warm cookies. Don't underestimate that dfference.

(7) The Journal Sentinel print edition's front-page story featured the following graphic, roughly 5" X 7", which was about as positive as they could be and essentially free advertising:

http://media.journalinteractive.com/...er041410g1.jpg

They could just have easily used that space to convey the death of Midwest, to talk about having no hometown airline, to show the battle at MKE for dominance, etc. Plenty of less positive things could have been there. But that's what they chose to print.

(8) More than once source, including JS, has specifically worded it along the lines of "Milwaukee's hometown carrier is now Frontier" as opposed to "Milwaukee has no hometown carrier" or "Frontier is absorbing Milwaukee's Hometown Airline".


Anybody who reads my posts for long knows that I can be highly critical of how the media has treated Midwest Airlines for quite some time. There's an incredible ability to spin information by how it is framed and the word choice used. The spin we've seen them put on yesterday's news is remarkably favorable, in general. Not what I expected, and Republic should capitalize on it as best they can. It's not something the old Midwest was especially good at.

JetBlue's window of opportunity to serve MKE has come and gone. They should have entered the market between 2002 and 2007 before AirTran became well established and Southwest commenced service.

Fares are low and non-stop service is robust. What do they have to offer at this point?

Lets look at some of JetBlue's key markets:

1) JFK. Milwaukee traffic is slanted heavily towards LGA. Fares are already low on the route as is. Getting passengers to switch to Kennedy would be a very tough sell.

2) BOS. Not big enough for three carriers, especially in the off season.

3) MCO. They'd be the fourth carrier on the route. Frontier, AirTran, and Southwest have or will be reducing capacity.

4) FLL. They'd be the third carrier on a route that can barely support year-round service as is.

If JetBlue did begin MKE service, flights to the West Coast would be highly unlikely, especially to secondary airports like OAK and LGB.

'Hoss and I commented on this yesterday when we say the editor for The Business Journal talking to Jim Reichart.

We were afraid that if you attended the brand announcement we may have had to break-up a fight in the parking lot, LOL!

Good analysis. Part of what's happening here, in my view, is that the general public sees a brighter, stronger future with this brand. I think that Midwest, for years now, has been viewed as a local, vulnerable brand on its last legs.

The new brand provides an infusion of excitement and hope for the future. The new ad campaign is a contrast to the rather stale and predictable YX advertising campaigns of the last 10 years.

We'll see where this goes, but I think both the general public and frequent travelers feel that this new airline is becoming a bigger player on the national stage than Midwest ever was.

Who would have thought that MKE would ever have two decent sized hubs that are both growing?! (at least for now...)

+1

I am beginning to see the further "harmonization" - I received a Frontier e-mail announcing a fare sale, which interestingly enough seems to match with the sale from Midwest. I don't believe the fares yet match across the board, though.