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We decided to stick with ES5, since there are still many browser compatibility issues with ES6.

Why not transpile down to ES6/2015 and rely on Babel for transpilation to ES5?

You're asking why he doesn't want to add yet another compilation step? Isn't that obvious?

swift -> es6 -> es5

If you need code written in Language X but insist on using Language Y "yet another step" probably isn't the deal breaker you imagine it to be.

I don't see why you'd need that intermediary step. Babel transpiles to ES5. I imagine this in an alternative to Babel, not a companion.

Have you looked into Babel?