AirTran Holdings (AAI) Raises Offer to Acquire Midwest Air (MEH) to $15 (Cash/Stock)

AirTran Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AAI) substantially increased its offer to purchase all of the outstanding shares of Midwest Air Group (Amex: MEH), to $15.00 per Midwest share.

Alcoa (AA) Higher on Reports of Bids from BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) and Rio Tinto PLC (RTP)

Share of Alcoa (NYSE: AA) are higher in pre-open trading on reports in Europe, BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) and Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RTP) are each considering bids for the company worth around $40 billion.NOTE:

A follow-up report from Reuters said BHP Billiton was not working on a bid for Alcoa, citing a source close to the matter.

Cramer Thinks Alcoa (AA) Gets Bought in 2007

On CNBC, Jim Cramer said he would be surprised if Alcoa (NYSE: AA) remains a public company in 2007, implying the company will gets taken over. He also said the same thing regarding Honeywell International (NYSE: HON).

Airlines Stock Take Flight on More Industry Consolidation News

Speculation in the airline sector is rampant today following news that UAL Corp (Nasdaq: UAUA), the parent of United Airlines, and Continental (NYSE: CAL) have held exploratory merger talks over the past several months, but talks have picked up recently following US Airways Group's (NYSE: LCC) recent hostile bid for Delta Air Lines Inc. (OTC: DALRQ). Link

In addition, AirTran Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AAI) confirmed it made an $11.25 per share offer for Midwest Air Group (NYSE: MEH), which was rejected. Link

Other stocks in the sector are also higher as industry consolodation takes shape: AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR), Frontier Airlines Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: FRNT), JetBlue Airways Corp. (Nasdaq: JBLU), Northwest Airlines (OTC: NWACQ), Hawaiian Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HA), Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK)