It had become one of the worst-kept secrets: Indigo Partners, the investment group managed by Bill Franke, former CEO of America West Airlines, has purchased Frontier Airlines from Republic Airways Holdings.
Frontier assumes all the Airbus A320neo family orders outstanding.
Franke’s Indigo bought controlling interest in Spirit Airlines and transformed it into an Ultra Low Cost Carrier. Indigo sold its shares months ago and Franke and an associate resigned from the Board of Directors, and from then on speculation was rife Indigo was gearing up to buy Frontier. Frontier CEO David Siegel has been transforming Frontier into an ULCC, but Franke is likely to take to concept further.
Republic was the launch customer for 40+40 Bombardier CSeries, Inevitably, questions will arise over the future of these orders, since these were assumed to be for Frontier.
Our information is that Republic has plans for these airplanes apart from Frontier.
Category: AirInsight, Bombardier, CSeries, Frontier Airlines
Tags: A320NEO, Airbus, Bombardier, CSeries, David Siegel, Frontier Airlines, Indigo Partners, Republic Airways, William Franke
Leeham: Republic was the launch customer for 40+40 Bombardier CSeries, Inevitably, questions will arise over the future of these orders, since these were assumed to be for Frontier. Our information is that Republic has plans for these airplanes apart from Frontier.
The CSeries could be a very interesting aircraft for an LCC operator. Ultra or not. And if Republic wants to retain its initial order, I don’t see then why Frontier could not place a new order to suit its own requirements.
The irony here would be that instead of being a potential loss for Bombardier, this new development could actually be a bonus.