Frontier and Midwest airlines merge

By Annalyn Censky, staff reporter


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Frontier and Midwest airlines are merging, bringing together each company's most popular marketing effort: Frontier's "spokes-animals" and Midwest's warm chocolate chip cookies.

The owner of both airlines, Republic Airways Holdings (RJET), announced Tuesday that it will unite the two regional carriers under the Frontier brand and expand its Denver and Milwaukee hubs.

"This decision was an emotional one for everyone involved," said Republic Airways President Bryan Bedford in a prepared statement. "While the research showed that customers preferred the Frontier brand, they also expressed a strong loyalty to both brands based on affordability, convenience, destinations and delivery of a differentiated experience."

Republic Airways purchased both Midwest and Frontier in 2009 and plans to completely integrate the two divisions in the next 18 months. During that time, the airline will move to one Web site and one frequent flyer program. It will also add destinations and staff to its hubs in both Denver and Milwaukee.

The Denver hub will add 10 new destinations this year, and Milwaukee will add five, the company said.

Bedford also assured customers that the new Frontier would offer on-board baked chocolate chip cookies, an ammenity that has been popular on Midwest for years.

The company will also continue Frontier's former promotions featuring "spokes-animals" such as "Larry the Lynx," "Grizwald the Bear" and "Foxy the Fox," which the company says give the brand a sense of humor and show a sense of character and commitment to service.

Frontier currently features more than 60 animals, each claiming a distinct personality, on its airplanes.

Foxy's favorite pastimes, for instance, are "chasing rabbits, 'vogueing' on the runway, and looking foxy," the company's Web site says. Larry, on the other hand, prefers napping on the tarmac. To top of page

Just the hot list include
Frontline troops push for solar energy
The U.S. Marines are testing renewable energy technologies like solar to reduce costs and casualties associated with fossil fuels. Play
25 Best Places to find rich singles
Looking for Mr. or Ms. Moneybags? Hunt down the perfect mate in these wealthy cities, which are brimming with unattached professionals. More
Fun festivals: Twins to mustard to pirates!
You'll see double in Twinsburg, Ohio, and Ketchup lovers should beware in Middleton, WI. Here's some of the best and strangest town festivals. Play
Index Last Change % Change
Dow 32,627.97 -234.33 -0.71%
Nasdaq 13,215.24 99.07 0.76%
S&P 500 3,913.10 -2.36 -0.06%
Treasuries 1.73 0.00 0.12%
Data as of 6:29am ET
Company Price Change % Change
Ford Motor Co 8.29 0.05 0.61%
Advanced Micro Devic... 54.59 0.70 1.30%
Cisco Systems Inc 47.49 -2.44 -4.89%
General Electric Co 13.00 -0.16 -1.22%
Kraft Heinz Co 27.84 -2.20 -7.32%
Data as of 2:44pm ET
Sponsors

Sections

Bankrupt toy retailer tells bankruptcy court it is looking at possibly reviving the Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us brands. More

Land O'Lakes CEO Beth Ford charts her career path, from her first job to becoming the first openly gay CEO at a Fortune 500 company in an interview with CNN's Boss Files. More

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.