Republic to ground its last 717

Republic Airways plans to ground the last of nine remaining Boeing 717s it acquired with its
purchase of Milwaukee-based Midwest Airlines by November 3 and replace them with Embraer E190s flown by “non-legacy” pilots. At press time Midwest’s ALPA-represented pilots and the Teamsters-represented pilots at Republic failed to reach a deal to merge their seniority lists, leaving the last 68 Midwest pilots out of work. Another 52 flight attendants will lose their jobs this month.

Republic, which on October 1 also officially became the owner of Frontier Airlines when that Denver-based carrier emerged from bankruptcy, will return the
717s
to Boeing, which already has sold a number of former Midwest airplanes to Mexicana.