Republic Airways CEO says no rush for IPO

Republic Airways CEO Bryan Bedford sees no urgency for the regional carrier to return to the public markets despite growing pressure among the privately held carrier’s shareholders. “We have some shareholders that would like us to get back into public markets,” Bedford said Monday. Despite this, he said an IPO is “not a priority” four years after the Indianapolis-based carrier was delisted from the Nasdaq. Bedford’s comments come after the successful public debuts of US carriers Frontier Airlines and Sun Country Airlines earlier this year. And in June, Bloomberg reported that Republic was working with Raymond James Financial on a possible IPO. Republic was publicly traded until it emerged from its US Chapter 11 reorganization in 2017. As part of that exit, partners American Airlines and United took equity stakes of 25% and 19%, respectively, in the carrier. Bedford did not say whether American or United were among the shareholders that would like Republic to go public. Aside from the IPO pressures, Republic’s future appears bright. The carrier did not lose its mainline contracts early in the pandemic and close its doors like Compass Airlines, ExpressJet Airlines and Trans States Airlines. Though Bedford did call the mainline carriers — American, Delta Air Lines and United — on which it relies on for its business “benevolent dictators”.<br/>