Frontier Airlines today ended its roughly 18 month stay in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, emerging as a subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings.
Republic secured the winning bid for its former partner after Southwest failed to secure a seniority agreement between its pilots and those at Frontier. Pilot seniority was a stipulation in Southwest's bid to acquire Frontier.
The $108.75 million acquisition of Frontier by Republic follows its purchase of Midwest Airlines on 31 July.
In a statement Frontier CEO Sean Menke says the carrier is looking forward "to building on our strong relationships and working with both Republic and Midwest Airlines to build a strong, sustainable, competitive airline for years to come".
Midwest and Frontier began codesharing on 2 September, and a quick look on Midwest's web site shows some Frontier A320 family aircraft are operating from Milwaukee in December on longer-haul flights to Los Angeles, Phoenix and Tampa.
With the close of the transaction, Frontier joins Republic's other wholly-owned subsidiaries - Chautauqua, Midwest, Mokulele, Republic and Shuttle America.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
