Southwest Airlines (WN) announced that it was putting a bid in for Frontier Airlines (F9) last week, a move that could significantly increase the airline’s market share in the west of the Mississippi. Frontier, the struggling Denver-based low-cost carrier that filed for bankruptcy last year, will be taking bids for the remainder of its company until Monday.
With the $114 million bid filed, Frontier will start sorting through contenders this week.
So what if it works out? Frontier would become part of Southwest airlines, Denver would lose one more competitor and hopefull the airlines and employees would merge from the bankrupt carrier to the most profitable carrier in the country.
Routes that Southwest takes over would suddenly be governed by the low-cost-carrier’s agressive pricing schema, meaning that cities currently covered by Frontier may see some more competitive prices to Southwest destinations. As for Denver, however, without WN competing with F9, prices could go up. At least they’ll still have plenty of non-stop routes available.
We should know more about whether Frontier accepts Southwest’s bid in the next few weeks.
Check out the well-made video from Denver NBC station 9NEWS after the jump.