In your opinion, given the current market conditions, how long do you think Frontier has?

 

IMO, Frontier is not going anywhere. Good ol' UAL is cutting back, so there should be plenty of room for SWA and FNT.

 

It's not a matter of "room," it's a matter of cash, isn't it?

I don't think anyone, anywhere is expanding right now.

 

Gone by the end of summer

 

Guys,

Threads like this are not cool at all. I have friends at Frontier as well as all over the industry. Everyone like's to be a vulture and speculate, but in these market conditions it serves us all to cheer for our friends at places like Frontier that are good organizations. They pay well, treat their pilots decent, and they serve some markets that have few if any alternatives. That means they ADD jobs to our profession that no one else will. Wages will not go up because Frontier fails and will not fall because they succeed. If Frontier fails, that is just that many more pilots out there in the market for jobs and if you do get hired at that next job, why would your future employer pay more? There are plenty of well qualified pilots willing to be employed thanks to quality companies not making it. A lot of Frontier's problems are just a cash crunch caused by it's financial partners (credit card companies.)

It's one thing to whine about sub-standard paying jobs, but it doesn't help when an industry average player fails.

Good luck Frontier!

 

17% pay cuts coming across the board tomorrow... So much for the good pay scenario.

 

No one wants to see Frontier go under. But burying your head in the sand and pretending this unfortunate situation doesn't exist isn't going to make things all better. What happens at Frontier affects the industry as a whole. That's exactly why this forum exists.

Sorry to hear about the pay cut, if it is for real. Definitely not good news.

 

In the airline industry, cash = time. Frontier actually has a decent amount of cash if I remember correctly. I believe they have about $200 million in cash. Even though they are losing $40 million a quarter, I don't see their demise as imminent. I think there is a much better chance of a few others carriers going out of business first (Mesa, VA, etc...)

Oil prices are going to continue to force carriers out of business. Something needs to be done about these fuel prices.

 

What's your source on this?

 

You forgot to mention that Frontier has what are possibly the best scheduling rules in the industry, and I can't complain about the pay. I made about $160,000 in my 5th year with F9 - there's not a lot of other places you can do that.

The sad irony is that if Frontier fails and Southwest succeeds, it would be solely due to hedging. It wouldn't be because Southwest has a better product.

I'm just waiting for the bubble to burst....