RJET sells F9 to Indigo

WorldTraveler

Corn Field
Dec 5, 2003
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It will be very interesting to see what Indigo does with F9 but the transaction could lead to significant strategic shifts that affect other airlines.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/republic-airways-holdings-sell-frontier-113000172.html
 
I have a friend who flies for F9. Based on what she has told me about Republic's management of F9, this can only be a good thing.
Your friend needs to find another employer quickly. Bill Franke was the former CEO at America West, and he had all the personality of a bag cart and needed a security escort with him whenever he directly interacted with the rank and file employees due to his policies.
 
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Dunno. Dave was there to fill a chair and provide a degree of separation from RJET management and F9. Franke and Indigo may want to put someone else in charge who doesn't have any connection whatsoever...

I don't see this being a positive for F9 in the long run. $36M?.... That's all the franchise is worth?....


Last time I checked, they were still cash positive, but the brand has become pretty splintered over the past 18 months.

At least with RJET as an owner, they had some degree of access to financing. Maybe Indigo really can self-fund what they need, but I just don't see their new and evolving business model being able to generate a whole lot of excitement with investment banks...
 
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Dunno. Dave was there to fill a chair and provide a degree of separation from RJET management and F9. Franke and Indigo may want to put someone else in charge who doesn't have any connection whatsoever...

I don't see this being a positive for F9 in the long run. $36M?.... That's all the franchise is worth?....


Last time I checked, they were still cash positive, but the brand has become pretty splintered over the past 18 months.

At least with RJET as an owner, they had some degree of access to financing. Maybe Indigo really can self-fund what they need, but I just don't see their new and evolving business model being able to generate a whole lot of excitement with investment banks...

Agree 100% on the brand (or lack thereof). ULCC... Hub & Spoke carrier, but kinda not really... Tertiary airports... and then not...

I'd tend to agree on access to $$$ as well, but rational thinking has a habit of going out the window when shiny aero-planes are involved...
 
Frontier was the victim of much larger and better capitalized airlines.

They had a niche that they decided to grow beyond and began to run into other airlines who weren't willing to give them the space that they once lived within.

F9 could try to go the ULCC route but it will be an uphill road trying to find sufficient markets and frequencies to support an airline the size that F9 is today. Allegiant and Spirit are not exactly going to roll out the welcome mat for F9.
 
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Well, to their benefit, they have a bunch of guys who came from Allegiant. If you haven't noticed already, the past year or so has seen a lot of the same focus on cost control and criteria for route selection... I suspect they can make the G4 model work better given newer airplanes and participation in the GDS.

But there's still a considerable amount of risk hanging about their necks. Even Cranky was a little pessimistic about their independence.
 
Well, to their benefit, they have a bunch of guys who came from Allegiant. If you haven't noticed already, the past year or so has seen a lot of the same focus on cost control and criteria for route selection... I suspect they can make the G4 model work better given newer airplanes and participation in the GDS.

But there's still a considerable amount of risk hanging about their necks. Even Cranky was a little pessimistic about their independence.
Oh, Good God... Bill Franke and former people from Allegiant as the new Management??? Hasn't F9 suffered enough already? My opinions about Franke were previously stated, but Allegiant Managers have demonstrated such profound contempt for every work group outside of their corporate structure. Allegiant contracted out their LAS hub in both Customer Service Reps and Fleet Service Agents a few years ago when they started talking union. Both the pilots and flight attendant unions have been getting nowhere with Allegiant, as the Management continues to make some very unreasonable expectations. For example, when one of Allegiant aircraft is stuck in some outstation for what could be days, Management has been very unwilling to provide any significant compensation. I have heard of pilots deadheading from LAS to HNL 4 people crammed into the flight deck of a B757, so they could swap seats on the return flight back. Sure both of these things save money, but no way to treat employees, especially being stuck in an area the size of a closet with 3 other people for 12 hours. I don't know about the mechanics, but based upon my observations and news reports of planes with mechanical problems and overlooked A.D.'s, I suspect there is a fair amount of management pencil whipping.

Those former G4 managers who made those policies are now making their way to F9 to replicate that ULCC model much to the detriment of the workers. Time get out those resumes at F9 if people haven't already done so.
 
Your friend needs to find another employer quickly. Bill Franke was the former CEO at America West, and he had all the personality of a bag cart and needed a security escort with him whenever he directly interacted with the rank and file employees due to his policies.

You are probably right. I just talked with my friend yesterday. She was telling me that the new buyers are demanding that the flight attendants give up all the equity in the company that they were given by Republic and in return they will give "up to" 2% match on 401-Ks. (They currently have 5% match, I think).
 
Well, to their benefit, they have a bunch of guys who came from Allegiant. If you haven't noticed already, the past year or so has seen a lot of the same focus on cost control and criteria for route selection... I suspect they can make the G4 model work better given newer airplanes and participation in the GDS.

But there's still a considerable amount of risk hanging about their necks. Even Cranky was a little pessimistic about their independence.

When you say "they have a bunch of guys who came from Allegiant", do you mean pilots?

or do you mean management?
 
When you say "they have a bunch of guys who came from Allegiant", do you mean pilots?

or do you mean management?

Hmmm. Do pilots focus on cost control or make route planning selections?....

Go read the executive bios on the website. You've had Allegiant management on the finance & planning side at F9 for over 18 months. It's part of what made F9 attractive to Indigo.
 
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what made F9 attractive for investors does not mean it will be a good place to work under those investors.
 
With all the moves Republic made after acquiring Frontier, does anyone know what their maint size looks like as far as numbers? Or did Republic get rid of all maint? If not how many mechs are still there? Just curious...