Friday, 24 June 2011

Midwest Airlines Survives Tough Times for Fliers

By Marley Haskines


For those not familiar, Midwest Airlines is now known as Frontier Airlines after a merger that happened earlier in 2010. But this article will only address Midwest because they are the subject of our article. A small company with only about 2400 employees, Midwest is a small airline that caters mainly to people who travel for business and pleasure. The main hub has always been Milwaukee Wisconsin out of General Billy Mitchell Airfield. Midwest offers nonstop services to many destinations throughout the US, Mexico, and Costa Rica. The airline flies into and out of cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver and Phoenix. Of course there is a lot more to learn about this company that is newly merged.

Code sharing, a legal agreement between two airlines, is often done by smaller airline companies. This is a federally regulated agreement that lets one airline market and sell flights on other airlines. Obviously this is used to allow smaller airlines to expand their markets. Code sharing is something that Midwest and Frontier do regularly. To give you an example: Frontier utilizes a codeshare with Great Lake Airlines and that allows Frontier and, by extension, Midwest, access to forty extra destinations. Specialized flights may also be available to an international shipping company.

As previously stated, Midwest and Frontier are merging into a single company that will work under the Frontier name and brand. The merger began on April 13, 2010, and will be a process spanning approximately 12-18 months in duration. All aspects of both businesses will get integrated--from the uniforms to the computer systems that run the companies--it all becomes a single look. This merger is only a very wise and positive move that will produce continued safe and profitable operations for years to come. When you think about the current economic climate around the world, this merger is a very smart thing to do.

Midwest airlines has participated in a process referred to as Code sharing for a number of years. A lot of airlines participate in this process which is a good think really. What this means is that the flight schedules of each airline are in sync with the schedules of other airlines.

The end result is more for the customers in terms of enhanced destinations and connecting schedules that are more favorable and convenient. Flights that are designated as a codeshare flight can be run by any of the participating companies.

Midwest Airlines is in the process of merging and being absorbed by Frontier. The name Frontier will soon apply to both airlines. Of course all of the currently existing Midwest programs will be preserved so don't worry if you're a member of the business flier or frequent flier programs. While the names of the programs will change, everything else including account numbers and benefits due will be transferred to the new system and stay the same.




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