Keep in mind that before coming to YX, Aretakis was vice president of planning and revenue management at Frontier Airlines.

It should also be pointed out that Midwest and Frontier had a frequent flier agreement in the past as well. However, the codeshare is new.

To me, the next step is to have Frontier move from C concourse to D concourse at MKE. This would make the codeshare more convenient. Is there room for Frontier, Midwest, Southwest and Great Lakes in D? Meaning if Midwest wants to expand again will they have the gates needed to expand? I can also see AirTran going after the gate vacated by Frontier if this were to happen. AirTran seems to be broom riding around MKE these days because Midwest won't go away. That's putting it politely.

So we all know that YX and F9 will codeshare. What happens next with the DL/NW codeshare agreement? Does DL get tired of the games and bails out? Then what are the MM people to do if they want to go TATL?

The DL code share is unaffected.

As for flying to Fort Collins, well, Frontier won't get you there either.

But the Frontier code share will give more options to a couple of dozen cities, some of which are not served by Midwest's existing code share agreements.

It also has the potential to put a fair number of loyal Frontier flyers on Midwest and Midwest Connect planes to places like Boston and Cleveland...destinations those travelers today must fly a competitor to reach.

Does not the government have to review these type of combinations?

FF partnerships and codeshares between domestic airlines are not subject to regulatory approval.

Good, I am sitting on a pile of Skymiles I want to use at YX, now that they appear to be restoring routes.

No, I believe this incorrect. The Department of Justice has full authority to investigate all domestic and international codesharing agreements.

I found the following statement from the Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Anti-trust Division, in 1998 testimony.


"The antitrust laws fully apply to all domestic code-sharing agreements and, absent an express grant of antitrust immunity by the Department of Transportation, the antitrust laws apply fully to international code shares as well. To antitrust law enforcement officials, code-sharing agreements are simply forms of corporate integration that fall somewhere between outright merger and traditional arm's length interlining agreements. Like mergers and acquisitions, code-share agreements have the potential to be procompetitive--they can create new service, improve existing service, lower costs and increase efficiency, all to the benefit of the traveling public. By the same token, code sharing arrangements can be anticompetitive. They can result in market allocation, capacity limitations, higher fares, or foreclosure of rivals from markets, all to the injury of consumers. The ability to distinguish the latter from the former is crucial for aviation policy makers and antitrust enforcement authorities".

I don't believe that a domestic codeshare has to automatically be approved by the feds, unless a challenge is brought forth, but perhaps someone here has more knowledge of the law in these areas.

I believe the process works something like this. RJET or FRNTQ.PK files its application for MEH codeshare with DoT. DoT does its DoT approval process thing and as a part of this process DoT notifies DoJ.

DoJ chops on it from the anti-trust aspect and either says: 1) no problemo or 2) we want time to look at and review any anti-trust implications.

It's official. According to my just-received MM monthly statement, Frontier and Midwest will become frequent flyer partners.

Posted on a.net by someone who usually has good information from within Fronter:

Effective September 8th.

Midwest will be able to sell tickets to these cities using Frontier flights:
Albuquerque
Billings
Bozeman
Colorado Springs
Denver
Durango
LaGuardia (???)
Rapid City


Frontier will be able to sell tickets to these cities using Midwest flights:
Cleveland
Pittsburgh
Indianapolis
Washington
La Guardia
Milwaukee
Denver
Nashville
Dayton
Orlando
Fort Myers
Philadelphia

More to come on both directions from what I've heard.

It's official. Midwest and Frontier are now under Republic's umbrella.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Southw....html?x=0&.v=1

Interesting. So, Southwest got a peek behind Frontier's curtain without having to go through with the transaction.

This outcome goes to show that in certain circumstances, unions can still have a considerable influence on things.