With over 90% of creditors signaling their approval, Frontier’s reorganization plan will likely be given the final stamp of approval at its next bankruptcy court hearing on September 10. Meanwhile, Frontier and Midwest, both newly acquired by Republic Airways Holdings, will begin code sharing exchanging passengers over Milwaukee and Denver and giving Frontier passengers a farther reach east.

Frontier creditors approved the plan with 92.58% of creditors and 99.84% of dollar amount covered in the voting. Republic is Frontier's largest creditor and, as part of acquisition deal agreed to waive recovery rights to its $150 million claim boosting distribution to other unsecured creditors by 94%. Frontier has been consistently profitable in the past several months.

In addition, the deadline for filing objections to the plan has now passed and only a small number of objections were filed, the airline said, adding its attorneys believe most are technical or procedural in nature. It expects the company should be able to consensually resolve most or all of the objections, setting the stage for a largely uncontested confirmation hearing, slated for September 10 in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

“This has been the hallmark of our restructuring efforts,” said Frontier President and CEO Sean Menke. “We have been able to completely restructure our business and reduce our costs to among the lowest in the industry. We have also developed alternative revenue streams through our branded AirFairs program, the introduction of ancillary revenues and the expansion of our network. We were able to do all of this in a cooperative manner with the constituents in our bankruptcy case, and we expect that to continue as we enter the final stage of our bankruptcy proceedings.”

Republic expects to close on its purchase of Frontier Airlines on or before October 1, 2009, after which Frontier will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Republic. Midwest Airlines is already a wholly owned subsidiary of Republic.

Midwest’s “YX” code has been placed on Frontier flights, providing Midwest customers the ability to connect on Frontier and Lynx Aviation flights in Denver to Aspen, Colorado Springs and Durango, Colo.; Billings and Bozeman, Mont.; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Rapid City, S.D. Similarly, Frontier’s “F9” code has been placed on Midwest flights, allowing Frontier customers to connect in Milwaukee to Midwest flights throughout the Ohio Valley and East Coast. Frontier customers will now be able to reach new cities like Cleveland and Pittsburgh by connecting on Midwest through its Milwaukee hub as well as increased frequencies to current Frontier cites like New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Orlando.

“This is an important step forward as we seek to expand our route map and grow our airline,” said Vice President of Strategy and Planning Daniel M. Shurz. “As we build this partnership with Midwest, our customers will see the benefit with more choices to more cities with an emphasis on the same level of service they have come to expect with both airlines.”

Both airlines’ customers will also be able to participate in each other’s respective frequent flyer programs – Frontier’s EarlyReturns program and Midwest’s Midwest Miles program, to earn miles and redeem them for free tickets.

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