Please excuse our absence the last day or so. It all started when the electric company showed up with a backhoe yesterday morning to do some “work” on their new transformer they installed about three weeks ago. Yes, well, the problem is that all our utilities come into the same general area in our back yard — and yep, not 10 minutes after the backhoe started its noisy thing, we had no telephone lines and hence, no high-speed connectivity. Both lines were ripped out of the ground.

Searching television last night, I was satisfied that nothing earth-shaking had occurred with the things with wings.

Just goes to show you how much coverage the sector gets — when it doesn’t involve a crash.

This morning I was struck dumb to hear a report on Good Morning America in which they were discussing whether or not a Continental/United Airlines merger would be completed before the Christmas travel rush, and if so, what that would mean to travelers.

What the hell?

Finally, after BellSouth came and rewired us, I was once again able to get back online and get up-to-date. Then what did my wondering eyes feast upon but the news that AirTran is going after Midwest Airlines. 24 hours offline and look what happens.

According to the WSJ,

“Meanwhile, AirTran in the next few days is expected to publicly disclose a recent $200 million offer made to Midwest’s management. The proposed deal would award shares $11.25 each in cash and stock, representing a 24% premium to where the company’s shares traded yesterday. has been pursuing Midwest for over a year, people familiar with the matter say, but was rejected in its most recent approach earlier this month.”

Actually that premium would be more like 38% by our calculations.

Are we surprised? No. Looking at potential US Airways/Delta and United/CAL deals in the works — you have to assume that Frontier, AirTran, and Midwest are wondering if their smaller niches business plans are not somewhat in jeopardy.

However it appears at this point, Midwest is less than enthusiastic about AirTran’s overtures.

As for the Continental/United hoo hah, there is really nothing new here. We all know both airlines have been talking for months. We know that United has also kept talking to Delta, in an effort to keep their “options open.”

And no, contrary to rumors that took off like crazy late Monday, United CEO Glenn Tilton did not announce anything concrete at the airline’s investor conference Tuesday. Then again, considering it’s been years since the airline even held an investor conference, I can understand why some might have thought there was going to be more to the event than turned out to be the case.

But Tilton and Co. aren’t stupid. The heightened speculation and the “leaks” that the two are talking that have come out in the last day or so have caused shares of both airlines to soar. Both stocks are already up more than 5% in trading today.

Tickers: CAL:NYSE, UAUA: NYSE, MEH:AMEX, AAI:NYSE.