Bloodbath 2008: Chapter 11 doesn't quite kill Frontier...yet

Unlike the other victims of Bloodbath 2008, Frontier Airlines has decided to try and stay afloat after it filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy late last night by not shutting down operations. The AP writes that Frontier said "its filing … came after an unexpected attempt by its principal credit card processor to start withholding significant proceeds from the sale of Frontier tickets, which threatened to hurt Frontier's liquidity." The airline's CEO is confident that while under Chapter 11 protection, they will be able to find additional financing and enhance their liquidity. I hope they didn't throw out all of those "pre-approved" credit card offers. They may need one.

Frontier is the first airline in the last several weeks with severe financial difficulties not to stop operating unlike those other quiters. They'll keep chugging along like everything is normal, for now. But for how long can they stay above water? I'm willing to take bets on this one.

Oh yeah, earlier this week I predicted that Frontier would be the next to go down. They haven't quite gone down, but I was pretty close in that prediction.

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Round and round we go: ATA bites the dust now

Aloha, croaks last week; Champion crashes and burns on Tuesday (figuratively, of course); and now this. ATA announced this morning that they have filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and ceased all flight operations effective immediately. Another Third-rate Airline ATA is claiming they are the latest victim in a string of murders by the evil rising prices of jet fuel. The Indianapolis based charter and scheduled airline also states it has lost out on a key military charter contract for 2009. FedEx, the team leader for an arrangement with the DOD and Air Mobility Command, officially booted ATA from the team next year. Apparently this team, of which ATA has been a part of for nearly 20 years, was just about the only thing that kept them flying with a nice little injection of military funding. That, coupled with the ridiculous spike in fuel prices, was enough to nail down the coffin on ATA. I guess this officially ends their code-sharing agreement with Southwest, who by the way has enough problems of their own.

P.S. If you have already purchased a ticket on ATA for the future, it will make a nice origami swan, as your ticket is now worth the equivalent of an origami swan. Your SOL. Sorry, buddy.

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