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Republic May Move Hundreds Of Frontier Jobs

Republic Looking At Each City's Incentive Programs

POSTED: 2:45 pm MDT September 4, 2009
UPDATED: 6:47 pm MDT September 16, 2009

Some Frontier Airlines jobs may be flying away to Milwaukee or Indianapolis.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that anywhere from 150 to 400 jobs could be leaving Denver and headed to Milwaukee.

Republic Airways Holdings won a bid on Aug. 13 to buy Frontier for $108.8 million.

The city of Denver said it is working on tax incentive packages to try and keep Frontier jobs in the Mile High City.

"Jobs matter and in a down economy every job matters," said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.

7NEWS has asked how far the city and state were willing to go to keep Frontier in town.

"I can't tell you how far we're willing to go but we do have a strategy and we're pursuing that," Clark said.

A Republic spokesman said nothing is set in stone and no option is off the table. Everything is up in the air but Republic is looking at every opportunity to reduce spending and ensure the profitability and success of the company, said Republic spokesman Carlo Bertolini.

Bertolini said if Denver comes up with an incentive program that makes sense, then Republic would keep jobs in Denver.

Republic also recently acquired Milwaukee-based Midwest Airlines.

"What's in play is does Republic's headquarters stay in Indianapolis or do you have separate headquarters for Midwest in Milwaukee and Frontier here in Denver," said Clark. "Or do you somehow have a consolidation?"

"We look at the marriage between Republic Airways and Frontier Airlines as a tremendous opportunity and we will do everything we can to keep as many jobs here as possible," said Mayor John Hickenlooper.

The Frontier jobs that are in play are 150 heavy maintenance jobs at Denver International Airport, and around 100 other Denver-based positions, Republic Chief Executive Officer Bryan Bedford told the paper.

A customer service center in Las Cruces, N.M., with 150 employees will definitely be relocated to save money, Bedford said. Milwaukee, Denver and Indianapolis, where Republic has its corporate headquarters, are each being considered for that operation.

Republic is scheduled to complete its purchase of Frontier on Oct. 1.

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