I love comments along the lines of "AA would NEVER do (fill in the blank)"; "DL CAN'T do (whatever their about to do)." AMR would shut down AE in a New York minute if it resulted in an extra bonus to TH and company. And, since Republic could have bought AE a year or two ago when AMR first put it on the market, what makes anyone think that they are interested in buying it now? Unless, AMR has decided to accept a fire sale offer price for AE.
WT, I agree with you. Why ever would AMR want to buy into the losing position at DEN? Frontier just does not have the bulk to compete with both WN and UA. And, WN has made clear that DEN is important to them. (Wait until the WA expires next year. Even AMR is going to get bit by the DAL-DEN service.) But then, there are any number of AMR executive moves over the past few years that would beg a similar question. One is always on thin ice when you attempt to apply logic to the decisions of AMR management. In fact, I believe it's a Rule 32 violation right up there with overt discrimination, racism and talking dirty on the job.
One of my closest friends flies for Frontier. I wish her and them the best, but the reality is that they are losing ground in DEN and across the nation. Just for instance, I saw (I think on here) that they are dropping DEN-PHL service and are going to fly into Trenton, NJ instead! Trenton? Really?
And, Republic's management of Frontier has managed to take a pretty good little airline and anger most or all of the employees, a la Tom Horton and company here at AMR. What a recipe for success!