Republic Airways Holdings today said it would retire the Midwest Airlines brand name as it continues to integrate that airline subsidiary with another it purchased in the past year, Frontier Airlines.
Though the initial plan outlined by Republic called for maintaining both brands, the Indianapolis-based holding company today confirmed Midwest and Frontier will become one-in both name and practice-in the next year and a half.
The purchases of Midwest and Frontier in 2009 represented a marked change in the holding company's core business of fixed-fee regional operations for legacy carriers by adding an arm that operated the two stand-alone airline brands.
"Although both brands have built strong affinities with air travelers, our customer research concluded that Frontier is the brand best positioned to meet the needs of today's consumers with its affordable-fares brand promise," Ian Arthur, who was appointed to vice president of marketing and branding at Republic last month, said in a statement. "With an expanded network and an even stronger Frontier brand, we are confident we can meet and exceed the needs of even more consumers."
Republic chairman, president and CEO Bryan Bedford earlier this year told
BTN that Midwest and Frontier would shift to a single reservations system, integrate a single corporate sales force and work to establish an entity that combines the strengths of both carriers
(BTNonline, Jan. 19). The company today said it plans to integrate operations by November this year, with full "brand integration" completed by October 2011.
The combined entities this year plan to launch 15 new destinations through the summer and grow available seat miles by about 6 percent for the full year.