That being said, I don’t think either airline has a bad crash record so I’m not going to make insinuations that one is better than another in that respect.

Your comments about Valujet are a based on an accident that happened over 10 years ago. The type aircraft (DC-9) that crashed in the everglades are not flown by Airtran. In fact, one of the main reasons AirTran is interested in Midwest is that they fly the same aircraft (Boeing 717). Try to focus on the facts instead of scare tactics. Just because it’s on Google doesn’t make it true.

Midwest’s record with its employees and unions is abysmal. They are already contracting out to nonunion in-flight services.

I don’t see how AirTran could possibly be worse, and national media seems to treat this deal favorably.

I’m smokin’ Camel Lights, btw.

Hmmm … What is Midwest putting in those cookies?

Drop the politics and think what is best for the customers who fly a lot out of Milwaukee – and I’m not talking about the family who takes 1 vacation a year and saves $20 per ticket. While that is important to them, business travelers are the lifeblood of the airlines.

No comparison between Midwest and Airtran in terms of comfort. Midwest fares are a great deal, for what you get. Typically they are similiar in cost to AT or slightly higher. Airtran may result in cheaper fares, but at what cost? VERY uncomfortable seats – so business flyers (which are an airline’s lifeblood) will have to always upgrade to 1st class – at which Airtran will be well above Midwest prices.

Keep in mind, with Midwest, Milwaukee will always be a hub and we’ll get direct flights. Not so with AT. We’ll have to fly through Columbus or Atlanta. No thanks.

We have a jewel here….Let’s not lose it.

I flew Midwest twice round trip to Bloomington, Mn., in the past few months. No complaints, but despite the leg room and the nice service (of total seats on four flights, at least one-third were empty, leaving fewer passengers to serve) I gotta admit that I find air travel extremely unsettling.

The Amtrak is easily more comfortable than Midwest. I’m a regular bus rider as well, so … Midwest’s appeal to a higher class of consumers in the midwest, if that’s what your suggesting, is pure hubris in the long run, especially when Midwest can’t put a plane in the air out of Chicago or Detroit. It doesn’t make sense, and it’s silly to anchor this type of service in Milwaukee, where income growth is among the lowest in the nation.

Look what’s happening in the flight industry – air travel is down to a new low in the post 9-11 market; it’s starting to bottom out to the point where airlines are consolidating to a handful of big brand names. That’s the game in the market now, and AirTran is playing it. Midwest is trying to fight this trend and expand slowly in its niche, contrary to the larger market, while AirTran is offering real growth in this context.

I really can’t think of one good reason why Milwaukee will not bend to these larger market forces, or why Mitchell Int’l would be unaffected by them. It’s hubris to expect Milwaukee not to bend, and kind of sad that people don’t seem to think Milwaukee should be subject to the larger market.

Fly Midwest and then fly airtran, you will see the different target consumers.

Hoeksma acknowledged to reporters that the new Seattle service was in part to help fend off AirTran’s hostile takeover, to give stock holders more confidence in Midwest growth.

Different consumer groups? I know a Midwest ticket is more expensive, but could you explain further?

The answer is that Airtran is pushing Midwest to finally start acting like a real airline.

True, true, folks in SE Wisconsin are already all-too familiar with that drive to O’Hare.

AirTrans growth plan is more expansive, and increases service out of Milwaukee. The company has also promised that its growth will create bargaining unit jobs for pilots, flight attendants and grounds crews. Midwest cannot say the same as it is already contracting out in-flight jobs; its growth plans are rinky dink in comparison to the more longterm plans of Airtran.

We’re talking about federally-controlled resources here (the airways). There’s a built-in amount of economic benefit – at one time this was fixed and the small-scale vision of Midwest was in response to that. This will always exist as a baseline – so what difference does it make who manages it? Very little risk w/ an AirTran takeover. Airtran is simply looking at the big picture – the megalopolis rapidly growing north from Lake County in Illinois – and wants to position air service out of Milwaukee to meet these new market realities. This is the sort of national mentality that is badly needed in these parts.

More Mayberry, we don’t need.

The expansion so fawned over in the local media is short-sighted in comparison to AirTran’s plans, and it involves expansion of the company’s “train service” jumps, which are being flown by private contractor pilots outside the collective bargaining agreement with its pilots.

This is not a company that gives much of a care about real expansion or genuine economic impact, and they won’t be expanding in Milwaukee (a fact that seems to escape notice in Milwaukee media coverage of the AirTran takeover). AirTran has guaranteed jobs and guaranteed expansion here, more service, and more direct flights.

What’s not to like? Allegiance to Midwest seems a Mayberry type attitude that local media propagates and is detrimental to real growth in the Milwaukee area.

1. Midwest gives a lot to Dems as well, particularly Skornica who for some reason Jim has an ax to grind. In fact Airtran is more Republican than Midwest.
2. It is perfectly legitimate to want to shift the airport to an airport authority. You can legitimately argue against it as well, but wanting to do this is not some grand conspiracy.
3. It is perfectly legitimate to want some tax breaks to help the airline pull out of the post 9-11 airline crises. Besides it worked, they are much more stable now then they were and are actually growing.
4. So what they want to expand in KC. The company is growing and actually have been adding a lot of flights the past couple months.
5. Midwest has a stake in the community, AirTran does not. Why would you want to get rid of a hometown company that is growing in favor of an out-of-state one?
6. Airtran is an airline that has had some problems as of late, and is using expansion as a way of bailing them out (just like USAir).
7. Airtran does not care about Milwaukee, they want the gates (close to Chicago), planes (cheaper to acquire the new planes Midwest has bought lately), and cash (Midwest is very cash heavy right now because they have been maneuvering the company to long term stability and growth as well as paying down the debt early.

Wake up. Midwest is not what any progressive would define as a good employer, and, as Jim pointed out, is laying in bed with Republicans and notorious Republican interests to do exactly what Republicans and business conservatives like to do: take as much from the public trough as possible, then work to eliminate any sort of public accountability.

Midwest is synonymous with corporate welfare, and the community would be better served with a more serious employer doing business in the area.

I call Shenanigans.

Two, there is value to having a hometown company. AirTran wants Milwaukee as a hub, not as its headquarters, which means it will beg for money (as much, I bet, as Midwest did) without giving back to the community as much as Midwest has. Airtran sees its acquisition of Midwest as a tool; Milwaukee sees Midwest as a neighbor.

Is there current management the best it can be? Probably not, but, three, what do you really know about AirTran? They used to be ValueJet, who couldn’t be bothered with basic safety precautions, and changed their name for PR purposes after a deadly crash made that all too clear. Their conrtibutions are 90% Republican (see http://www.buyblue.org/node/157/view/summary ). (I can’t get WDC’s page to open to check the percentages on Midwest, and they’re not listed at BuyBlue.)

Stock price isn’t everything. As I said, there’s a value to having a hometown company to provide a service–which they do very well at a competitive price.