Southwest, Please Buy Frontier!
Southwest announced Friday their intention to bid on acquiring Frontier in an aggressive move that would make huge inroads in its attempt to become a formidable competitor in the Denver market. Although some analysts say that Frontier has made things ‘miserable’ for Southwest in Denver, I happen to think they HAVE started making a dent in Frontier’s business. Case in point: me. I have always been a loyal Frontier frequent flyer but recently I started changing my behavior in response to Southwest’s low airfares, FUNNY flight attendants, and shameless wall-to-wall advertising all over DEN. In fact, I flew Southwest this weekend from Denver to Chicago and enjoyed every minute of it. Two years ago it wouldn’t have even dawned on me to search for Southwest airfare flying out of Denver.
Sources say Southwest has filed its intent to bid at least $113.6 million for Frontier, which may start a bidding war with Republic Airways Holdings, a parent company of several regional carriers that has already placed a bid on the airline.
The auction will take place on August 11, and if Southwest wins it will likely be able to hire all of the 5,000 employees currently working at Frontier. I am sure Frontier’s EarlyReturns frequent flyer program will be rolled into Southwest’s Rapid Rewards, which would be way cool. I am really hoping this deal goes through — because if we have to say bye bye to Frontier, Southwest is the best airline to have in the Colorado market.
