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Letter To Frontier Airlines Employees From CEO Sean Menke
Dear Team Members,
Subject: Update on Frontier Financial Situation
I know this will come as a very difficult surprise to many of you, but late last night Frontier Airlines Holdings, Inc. voluntarily filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
This move stands in stark contrast to what you have heard from me and the management team in recent days and weeks regarding our financial stability and our plans to weather the storm, so I want to share with you the specifics as to why we are making this seemingly sudden change in direction.But before I do that, I know you won't be able to read this letter with a clear head if I don't state that the Chapter 11 filing does not change our day-to-day lives. We are still up and operational. You are still an employee of Frontier Airlines and will receive your pay and benefits as usual (more on that below).This week, I was notified by our credit card processor that, as of Friday, April 11, due to "current economic conditions, the rise in fuel costs and the other bankruptcies around the industry," they intended to start withholding 50 percent of the credit card funds received from the sale of Frontier tickets.If they went ahead and did this, tens of millions of dollars owed to us by our customers would have been withheld by the credit card processor, First Data. This would have drained our available cash almost immediately and would have made it impossible for us to continue normal operations. Therefore, we decided to file Chapter 11 in an effort to fight this unwarranted step by the credit card processor so that we can continue to position the Company for long term success.I want to emphasize to each of you that this was very sudden and unexpected. We are the victims of a credit market that is very fragile and the tolerance for risk is extremely low. As I have stated many times recently, our executive management team has been working diligently and tirelessly to extend our runway by securing additional cash to bolster our balance sheet. We were successfully making progress on a number of fronts that would position us well for the future and with the protection of the bankruptcy court, we plan to continue to pursue those opportunities.Moving beyond today's news, I want to be VERY clear that Frontier is open for business and we expect to continue normal operations throughout the reorganization process. Our employees and our customers can be confident that we intend to keep on flying and providing outstanding service and products. Day-to-day, nothing changes with any of our operations, customer programs or for our employees.Specifically, we expect to continue to:
Subject: Update on Frontier Financial Situation
I know this will come as a very difficult surprise to many of you, but late last night Frontier Airlines Holdings, Inc. voluntarily filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
- Provide employee wages, healthcare coverage, vacation, sick leave and similar benefits without interruption; Operate a full schedule of flights; Honor tickets and reservations and provide refunds and exchanges per the existing terms for such transactions; Maintain our EarlyReturns frequent flier program and other customer service programs; and Pay suppliers for goods and services received during our reorganization process.







