Frontier Airlines' new owner Republic Airways Holdings plans to place five Airbus A319s in Milwaukee by November to optimise Frontier's network with Midwest Airlines, which Republic also recently acquired, Republic CEO Bryan Bedford says.
Bedford outlined thoseplans at the Boyd Group International's Aviation Forecast Summit earlier this week in Lexington, Kentucky.
After emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this month as a Republic subsidiary, Frontier will operate some of its narrowbodies on longer-haul, high-density, low-yield markets from Milwaukee. Bedford predicts profitability for Midwest during the second quarter of 2010, and explains at that time Republic will make adecision about placing more Frontier aircraft in Milwaukee.
Frontier's aircraft will be joined next month by a total of eight Embraer E-190s operated in Milwaukee by fellow Republic subsidiary Republic Airlines on shorter-haul routes such as Omaha, Nebraska and Boise, Idaho.
Republic will fly the aircraft on behalf of Midwest, which will operate its final Boeing 717 flight on 3 November.
Republic Airways Holdings previously outlined a fleet revamp for Midwest that included the replacement of nine 717s with 9 to 10 E-190s.
Bedford says a total of 10 E-190s will operate in Milwaukee by the end of 2009.
Republic currently operates five E-190s, according to Flightglobal's ACAS database, with two of the aircraft leased from GECAS.
A Republic spokesman declined to specify where the forthcoming E-190s will be sourced but said of the existing five aircraft that two were manufactured in 2008 and three were manufactured this year.
The aircraft will likely come from the existing marketplace as Bedford told ATI in June that he had no plans to order E-190s from airframer Embraer.
The E-190s and A319s and are some of the "tools" that Midwest will use in Milwaukee as a "brutal" competition is expected among Midwest-a former AirTran Airways takeover target-AirTran and Southwest Airlines. "It will be a vigorous competition," Bedford says.
Dallas-based Southwest will inaugurate service to six destinations from Milwaukee next month, competing with Midwest and AirTran on several routes.
As Bedford prepares for competition to heat up in Milwaukee, heis also sorting through the consolidation of Midwest and Frontier.
Bedford says he will make a decision by the end of this month about the location of Midwest and Frontier customer service and maintenance operations.
Midwest runs a call center in Milwaukee while Frontier has a reservations center in Denver.Frontier is closing its reservations office in Las Cruces, New Mexico by the end of 2009.
The Denver and Milwaukee facilities can each handle both Midwest and or Frontier calls, a Midwest spokesman has said.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
