Southwest pilots’ input nixed deal for Frontier

By Richard N. Velotta

Monday, Aug. 31, 2009 | 2 a.m.

To many, Southwest Airlines’ failure to acquire Denver-based Frontier Airlines out of bankruptcy was shocking.

To some, the deal was a foregone conclusion. Analysts were speculating about how Southwest was going to get a foothold in Atlanta at the nation’s busiest airport, while others wondered whether Southwest’s flight crews were brushing up on their Spanish for when they took over Frontier’s routes to Mexico and Costa Rica.

And Southwest, which flies Boeing 737s and was going to inherit Frontier’s Airbus fleet, had found a buyer for those aircraft in Virgin America.

But for all the posturing and expectations, Frontier was purchased in auction for about $109 million by Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Group, which recently acquired Midwest Airlines and operates Republic Airlines, Shuttle America, Lynx Aviation and Chautauqua Airlines.

What happened to Southwest’s play for Frontier? The answer is in its employee culture.

Southwest CEO Gary Kelly conditioned the airline’s deal to acquire Frontier on Southwest’s pilots union reaching agreement with its counterpart at Frontier, especially on the touchy issue of pilot seniority.

Southwest pilots wanted all of Frontier’s pilots to come in at the bottom of the seniority list. Their argument was that because Southwest was the acquiring company, they didn’t want any of their own to be at the bottom of the list if layoffs were to occur. Southwest pilots were protecting their own.

When the Frontier pilots’ union refused that arrangement, Kelly scuttled the purchase, saying any deal that was going to damage the airline’s culture wasn’t worth pursuing.

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Loyal US Airways and Delta Air Lines business travelers to New York’s LaGuardia Airport and Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport may need to reexamine their scheduling after the two carriers announced a slot swap.

Both airports have flight restrictions that limit direct trips to airports outside a certain perimeter. In the deal announced last week, US Airways will give additional LaGuardia slots to Delta in exchange for additional slots at National. US Airways will reduce its commuter flying into New York, but should pick up more Washington business.

The move bolsters US Airways’ dominance at National, where it is the busiest operator. Delta creates a bigger presence at LaGuardia to complement its efforts to be a big player in New York, where it has a major presence at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

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There’s a new blog to answer questions about the Grand Canyon sponsored by Destination Grand Canyon, a company that works with the Hualapai Indian tribe to market attractions at Grand Canyon West, which include the Skywalk.

Allison Raskansky, president and CEO of Destination Grand Canyon, hopes the blog will answer tourists’ questions about visiting the Grand Canyon and publicize that Grand Canyon West is an easier trip from Las Vegas than the north and south rims.

Here may be the biggest question-and-answer: Is the 17-mile road between Pearce Ferry Road, near Dolan Springs, Ariz., and Hualapai land, still unpaved? Mostly yes, and it remains the roughest part of the route between Las Vegas and Grand Canyon West. But there has been progress. About four miles, from Pearce Ferry Road, have been paved and stimulus money is available for Mohave County to finish the job and turn the bone-rattling trip into something more tolerable, in addition to making it passable after the occasional flash flood.

And don’t ask whether the tribe has changed its policy about allowing tourists to take their cameras on the Skywalk, a horseshoe-shaped glass walkway that extends over the rim and is 400 feet above the canyon floor.

It hasn’t.

A version of this story appears in this week’s In Business Las Vegas, a sister publication of the Sun.