Is Barry Biffle Now on Message?
On an earnings call, Frontier's CEO neither responded to Scott Kirby nor sparred with a Wall Street analyst. Instead, he spoke about his airline's prospects. How refreshing.
Dear readers,
Has Frontier CEO Barry Biffle been listening to media trainers? Or corporate coaches? Or his board members? Or maybe he has just matured?
I don't know — because he and I don’t chat — but regardless, I found America's most swashbuckling airline CEO impressively on-message during Frontier’s fourth quarter earnings call. Sadly, this means that Biffle did not address Scott Kirby's recent not-so-veiled dig at Frontier's expansion into big-city markets, like LAX-JFK, where Kirby is betting Frontier will fail.1 Instead, Biffle shared a diligent and on-message recap of Frontier's go-forward plan, including its focus on cost control, its decision to grab a bigger slice of premium and frequent flyer revenues, its plan to keep expanding its base system beyond today’s 13 cities, and yes, its continuing reliance on sale-leasebacks to pad operating profits or to lessen losses, depending on the season.
The only time Biffle gave us the sass he has become known for came when he addressed Spirit's intransigence to accept Frontier's repeated acquisition offers, including the one Frontier disclosed on Jan. 29 that Spirit’s CEO and board chair called "inadequate and unactionable."
In brief remarks, Biffle said the combined airline would be better for consumers, retail investors, and employees than Spirit’s independent plan if the airlines remain separate. "Our proposal offers more value than Spirit’s standalone plan,” he said. “This includes substantial value for equity holders who will otherwise receive nothing through Spirit's plan with the bankruptcy court.”
I sensed Biffle might be a little riled up (after all, it is obvious to most of us, including Biffle, that Frontier and Spirit should merge) but since Frontier declined to answer M&A questions, we never got the super-animated version of Biffle that we know and sometimes love.
So what did this newly on-message CEO want us to know about Frontier’s future? Let's take a look.