Now Departing: Delta Cuts Ties with Midwest Airlines

(MoneyWatch)  The last commercial ties between Midwest Airlines and its previous owner will be cut on June 7 when its frequent flyer partnership with Delta will end. It's not a surprise to see this relic from a previous life disappear. In fact, I'd be surprised if Delta didn't make this move. (I'm assuming it was their choice.) It shows the very odd web of relationships that has been created here by Republic's purchase of Midwest.

Midwest had long been a competitor with Northwest in its Milwaukee homebase until things started looking bad for them. When it looked like AirTran was going to take over Midwest, Northwest stepped in to keep some serious competition out of the Heartland. Northwest teamed with TPG to buy Midwest in August 2007. From that point on, the two got closer and closer. Midwest and Northwest started codesharing with each other and they put a frequent flier partnership in place. That partnership survived the Delta acquisition of Northwest and remained largely unchanged. Then Republic Airways stepped in.

Republic, a regional aircraft operator for branded carriers until recently, purchased Midwest as part of its strategy to build a brand. (Frontier was added later.) Although the Delta partnership never moved over to include Frontier, it remained intact with Midwest, and that was a big attraction for Midwest fans. Beginning on June 7, that will end.

The relationship that Republic has with other carriers has become increasingly complex. Republic flies nearly 40 regional aircraft under the Delta Connection brand (one is seen above), but its branded operation competes head-on with Delta on some routes. That's a recipe for conflict.

Ultimately, this move is likely just cutting ties that only existed because of a previous ownership structure. But it may not have happened had the relationship been more clear. What I find most interesting is that Midwest hasn't mentioned this anywhere on its site or anywhere on Republic's site that I've found. The only mention seems to be a lonely note on Delta's website. That tells me it's Delta that said this wasn't a good idea. They were effectively supporting a competitor that's also a supplier. As Republic continues to try to build a single brand as a more fierce competitor, we can probably expect to see more airlines re-evaluate their relationships.

[Photo via Wikimedia Commons]