"AirTran should be Midwest's owner"
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
AIRLINES
AirTran should be Midwest's owner
Rarely do our community leaders get an opportunity to correct a significant mistake. The Delta-Northwest merger provides a unique opportunity for southeastern Wisconsin leaders to support the right team to provide airline service here ("Delta, Northwest agree to merge," April 15).
Last year, our leaders strongly supported a proposal by TPG/Northwest to purchase control of Midwest Airlines over a rival proposal by AirTran. The argument at the time was that Milwaukee needed to maintain a unique, independent airline that serves chocolate chip cookies.
Since that deal was completed earlier this year, Midwest and its regional affiliate have reduced schedules and announced pilot layoffs. Northwest owns 47% of Midwest and is reported to have an option to purchase control. Over the past several months, AirTran has won on-time and customer service awards and achieved significant revenue growth. Proving its sincere commitment to the Milwaukee market, it has announced an aggressive schedule expansion here that already has stimulated air traffic in the market.
AirTran has the resources and moxie to become Milwaukee's new hometown airline. Our leaders should correct their earlier mistake and demand of regulators that Northwest divest itself of its Midwest interest before it is allowed to merge with Delta. A marriage between AirTran and Midwest still makes the most sense for Milwaukee.
Richard Sokol
Greendale