Denver-based Frontier and Midwest are destined to become sister airlines when Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc. closes on its purchase of Frontier. Republic recently acquired Midwest.
Under the codeshare arrangement, Frontier’s Denver passengers can reach destinations served by Midwest, such as Cleveland and Pittsburgh, by transferring to a Midwest flight at its Milwaukee hub.
The two airlines’ passengers will also be able to take part in both airlines’ frequent-flyer programs.
“This is an important step forward as we seek to expand our route map and grow our airline,” Daniel Shurz, Frontier VP of strategy and planning, said in a statement Wednesday. “As we build this partnership with Midwest, our customers will see the benefit with more choices to more cities with an emphasis on the same level of service they have come to expect with both airlines.”
Also, the unsecured creditors of Frontier Airlines have voted overwhelmingly to approve its plan of reorganization to exit bankruptcy, paving the way for Republic Airways Holdings Inc. to close on its acquisition of Frontier.
Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings won an auction last month to buy Frontier and make it a wholly owned subsidiary. Republic — which also owns Oak Creek-based Midwest Airlines, along with carriers Chautauqua, Republic and Shuttle America — hopes to enter into the low-fare national carrier business with purchase of Frontier.
It won the auction over Southwest Airlines partially on the strength of its plan to pay back creditors 16.88 cents on the dollar, which was almost 5 cents per dollar higher than the offer made by Southwest. But a majority of creditors still needed to approve the plan to move forward.
A full 92.58 percent of voting creditors backed the plan, Frontier announced Wednesday. Those creditors represent 99.84 percent of the dollar amount of claims placed with Frontier.
Frontier president and CEO Sean Menke lauded the so-far smooth nature of the reorganization in a news release.
“We were able to do all of this in a cooperative manner with the constituents in our bankruptcy case, and we expect that to continue as we enter the final stage of our bankruptcy proceedings,” Menke said.
