Bryan Bedford, CEO of Republic Airways Holdings Inc. expects his company will decide by the end of March whether to sell or spin off Frontier Airlines.

He declined to say Thursday whether it’s likely he’ll find an acceptable suitor to buy the Denver-based airline, which at one time held the top market share at MKE

“We are in discussions with a number of interested parties, and we do expect to have a decision on the path forward in the next month or so,” Bedford said during a conference call to discuss Republic’s and Frontier’s fourth-quarter earnings. He added that he expects the process of separating Frontier from Republic, which bought Frontier out of bankruptcy in 2009, should wrap up by the end of June.