Indigo Partners, LLC, a Phoenix investment firm, will purchase Frontier Airlines in a $145 million deal that includes cash and debt assumption. Indigo is led by Bill Franke, who once guided ultra-low-cost Spirit Airlines and is a former CEO of America West Airlines. Labor agreements still need to be worked out.
Frontier’s owner, Republic Airways Holdings, Inc., announced the definitive agreement. In 2009, Republic bought Frontier and Oak Creek-based Midwest Airlines, then converted Midwest to the Frontier brand and planned to make Milwaukee a hub. But Frontier’s daily flights out of General Mitchell International Airport have been reduced from a peak of 87 to just seven over the past two years.
