And the winner is Republic Airways!

Republic Airways Holdings Inc. won a bankruptcy court auction to buy Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc., bidding $108.8 million to beat Southwest Airlines Co.

Republic Airways Holdings Inc. won a bankruptcy court auction to buy Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc., bidding $108.8 million to beat Southwest Airlines Co.

Republic also agreed to waive distributions on its $150 million pre-petition unsecured claim, Frontier said today in a separate statement. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in New York and regulators have yet to review the sale. Southwest bid $170 million Aug. 10, before the auction officially began.

โ€œI look forward to welcoming Frontier to our Republic family,โ€ Bryan Bedford, Republicโ€™s chief executive officer, said today in that airlineโ€™s statement.

Indianapolis-based Republic was the 11th-largest U.S. carrier last year based on passenger traffic, while Denver-based Frontier was 13th and Dallas-based Southwest was fifth, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Republic operates commuter flights for larger carriers including Delta Air Lines Inc. and UAL Corp.โ€™s United Airlines and has said it would operate Frontier as a subsidiary. Republic owns regional carriers Chautauqua Airlines, Shuttle America and Midwest Airlines, which it acquired on July 31.

Southwest, the worldโ€™s biggest discount carrier, made a $113.6 million preliminary offer on July 30. It then increased its offer by about 50 percent Aug. 10 to hold off Republic in a bidding war.

Frontier filed for bankruptcy in April 2008 and agreed on June 22 to be acquired by Republic for $108.8 million, before Southwestโ€™s higher offer.

The case is In Frontier Airline Holdings Inc., 08-11298, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

Share to...