Southwest could begin Atlanta service

By Kelly Yamanouchi

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

There’s a chance low-cost carrier behemoth Southwest Airlines could begin flying to Atlanta.

Dallas-based Southwest announced Thursday that it plans to bid to acquire Denver-based Frontier Airlines out of bankruptcy. Frontier operates three daily flights to Atlanta.

The bankruptcy auction was a chance to “seize upon a growth opportunity,” Ron Ricks, Southwest’s executive vice president of corporate services, said during a conference call with media.

Still undetermined is whether Southwest will prevail in the auction, and whether it would maintain Frontier’s flights to Atlanta.

Bob Jordan, Southwest’s executive vice president of strategy and planning, named Atlanta, Reagan National Airport (serving Washington, D.C.) and destinations in Mexico as places “that are very interesting” that Frontier flies to and Southwest does not.

“I think we’re going to study those,” Jordan said. “I would love to be able to tell you that it would be our choice to serve those. That’s our strong desire.”

Southwest is competing with Indianapolis-based Republic Airways on the deal. Republic last month bid $108.8 million for Frontier.

Southwest submitted a nonbinding proposal with a bid worth at least $113.6 million.

The acquisition would allow Southwest to expand its network and boost competition in Denver and other cities, the company said. If successful, it would eventually combine Frontier into Southwest, and until then it would operate Frontier as a wholly owned subsidiary.

“If Southwest were to acquire Frontier, we would look forward to them operating out of Frontier’s facilities here at Hartsfield-Jackson,” airport spokesman John Kennedy said.

Southwest said it has the cash, access to capital and collateral for the Frontier deal.

Standard & Poor’s analyst Jim Corridore said in a note to investors that Southwest has “a good chance to win any bidding war” with Republic.

Delta spokesman Kent Landers said Delta would not comment on potential industry transactions “that at this point are only proposed.”

AirTran Airways spokesman Christopher White said AirTran, which has a code-share partnership with Frontier, has no plans at this time to bid on Frontier and that it’s premature to speculate what might happen with the partnership.

On the possibility of Southwest flying to Atlanta, White said AirTran “competes head to head with Southwest in a number of markets, including Baltimore.”

“We’re not afraid to compete with Southwest,” White said.