402Fanatic

The article makes it sound like they are just being bought and not integrated. It said they will retain the Era name after the acquisition. And they use the opportunity to put aircraft in the right size markets. Does that necessarily mean they will merge?

Sounds more like a situation like AS buying QX where things were more harmonized than integrated. Though no more details have really been put out so time will tell what they plan on doing.

clearandcold

I have a feeling this will be bad for the ERA folks. It sounds like they are going to move some of the planes to FAI. Also I'm not sure how much the ERA pilots generally fly but I know that the Frontier guys nearly time out on a regular basis. In the eyes of Frontier they may be overstaffed.

Ak Pilot

Is the Era-Frontier merger a good thing?
Scott McMurren
Feb 18, 2009


News came out Tuesday about the prospective merger of Era Aviation and Frontier Alaska, the holding company for Frontier Flying Service and Hageland Aviation.

All three of these firms are commuter carriers that fly single- or twin-engine prop planes around the state. It's not the same as Delta and Northwest joining forces. Many travelers who just fly south from Anchorage may never end up on one of these planes.

For those travelers who use the services--primarily outside of Anchorage--the news could be good or not-so-good, depending on how things turn out.



Most Anchorage travelers are familiar with Era Aviation. The company flies twin-engine Dash-8s, which hold 37 passengers, as well as Beechcraft 1900Ds, which hold up to 19 passengers. Destinations include Kenai, Homer, Kodiak, Cordova, Valdez, Fairbanks and Bethel.

Lately, Era's been making a big deal about its new service to Fairbanks and Bethel--offering web specials each week on its website.

Fairbanksans are more familiar with Frontier Flying Service. The Hajdukovich family has operated the airline for more than 30 years. With its fleet of Beechcraft 1900Cs, the airline flies from Fairbanks to Anchorage, Barrow, Barter Island, Prudhoe Bay, Nome, Kotzebue and Ft. Yukon.

Hageland flies smaller aircraft, linking hub communities like Aniak and St. Marys with smaller villages like Eek and Emmonak.

Almost a year ago, Hageland and Frontier Flying Service joined forces in a holding company, since neither carrier had the cash to buy out the other. "Both companies were struggling," Hajdukovich said at the time.

Era Aviation had its own share of struggles, having emerged from bankruptcy a couple of years ago. In the process, Era sold off its largest aircraft, the Convair 580s, as well as its fleet of DHC-6 Twin Otters. The airline dropped its village service between Bethel and dozens of rural communities, as well as service to Iliamna and Whitehorse. The airline added the Beechcraft 1900D, which it determined was compatible with many of its routes. Steve Jackson took the job as CEO. Previously, he was CFO of Hawaiian Airlines-and helped bring that carrier out of bankruptcy.

Through the bankruptcy and subsequent sale to a group of private investors, Era maintained its popular code-share arrangement with Alaska Airlines. Travelers were booked and tickets on Alaska flights, operated by Era Aviation. Travelers received frequent-flyer mileage points on Era. And Era created and maintained a compatible computer reservations system.

The larger aircraft, the reservations system, the airline's presence in Anchorage, and the code-share arrangement made Era an attractive package for Frontier Alaska. Financial terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

Although Frontier negotiated a mileage agreement with Alaska Airlines, the carrier has been slow to implement the mileage accrual guidelines and has yet to determine how much mileage travelers must redeem to fly on a Frontier Alaska flight.

Hajdukovich indicated that Era will operate as an independent entity. Hopefully, he will be able to use Era's expertise in computer reservations to better-integrate the yet-to-be-implemented mileage tie-in with Alaska. And travelers may have a better time flying between Galena and Kenai or Kodiak--since there's just one airline.

In the background is Alaska Airlines--the mainline carrier for which all of these commuter carriers provide downstream business. Clearly, Alaska Air would be happier with a commuter carrier that has a compatible reservations system to make for seamless transitions when traveling from Ft. Yukon to Portland.

As rural aviators know, there's more to Alaska flying than writing an e-ticket and earning miles. Postal contracts, freight and regulatory oversight also play into the successful equation. Hageland, Frontier and Era have built up many loyal customers in many communities. To successfully integrate these companies into entities that can provide seamless service for travelers will be quite a trick.

To keep them from going out of business in a slack economy is a good first step.

aviatorhi

At Frontier we've always been pretty "Bush", lot's of shoot from the hip type stuff, which works great in our circumstances. I'm sure one of the first things thats going to happen is ANC-FAI and ANC-BET are going to be re-aligned so that we're not in direct competition with each other. Also, remember, that just because a plane says ERA or Frontier or Hageland on the side will most probably not stop pilots being able to fly on all 3 certificates. My suspicion is, though, that sooner rather than later the ERA and 2F certs will be merged.

AKfreighter

I don't know about this "flying on all certificates". The first thing that would have to change would be the time and duty regs. The Dash isn't able to fly under 135 time and duty. So if one is going to be based in squarebanks it will need era pilots based there to fly it. With the teeny amount of knowledge I have, I would guess on a merger of certificates eventually. However, I know how much management likes to fly pilots to the max (1400 hours a year), and I think its unlikely if they all flew under the same certificate that they would let some pilots use different time and duty regs than other pilots for the other planes. And of course, then would come the seniority integration. Yikes.

Rook

Well as long as Wedge and Janson are on the seniority list, those Imperial Walkers won't stand a chance.

AKfreighter

One of our pilots knows a thing or two about targeting generators...ha!

eraops

Any news how this merger effects the pilots?

Ak Pilot

flight operations with 9 seats or less under the Hageland certificate and 10 seats or more under Era's certificate. Frontier's certificate would not be used.

SnowMan

Any news on this front? Everything seems quiet regarding the merger/acquisition.