Frontier Airlines, is a United States low-cost airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado, USA.^[2] The carrier, which is a subsidiary and operating brand of Republic Airways Holdings, operates flights to 76 destinations throughout the United States, Mexico, and Costa Rica^[4] and maintains a hub at Denver International Airport also, Frontier has focus cities in Kansas City International Airport and Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport. It provides regional service to the surrounding Rocky Mountain States through a code-share agreement with Great Lakes Airlines.

History

1990's

Frontier Airlines was incorporated on February 8, 1994, by a group that included executives of a previous incarnation of Frontier Airlines in response to the void left by Continental Airlines' 1993 shutdown of its Denver (Stapleton) hub.^[5] Scheduled flights began five months later in July 1994 utilizing Boeing 737 aircraft. Like the original, Frontier flew out of Denver. In 1999, Frontier signed agreements to begin purchasing and leasing Airbus A318 and A319 aircraft to expand its fleet. The airline took delivery of its first Airbus aircraft (an A319) in 2001 and simultaneously launched with it DirecTV in-flight television along with a new company livery. Frontier Airlines was the launch customer^[6] of the Airbus A318 in 2003. In mid-April 2005, Frontier officially became an all-Airbus fleet, retiring its last 737.

2000's

As part of its plan to stay competitive, the company underwent a reorganization early in 2006. On April 3, 2006, Frontier created Frontier Airlines Holdings, Inc. (FRNT), a holding company incorporated in Delaware to take advantage of favorable tax laws in that state. The corporate headquarters did not leave Colorado.^[7]

On January 24, 2007, Frontier was designated as a major carrier by the United States Department of Transportation.^[8]

On January 11, 2007, Frontier Airlines announced it had signed an 11-year service agreement with Republic Airlines. Under the agreement, Republic was to operate 17, 76-seat Embraer 170 aircraft for the former Frontier JetExpress operations. At the time the contract was canceled in April 2008, Republic Airlines operated 11 aircraft for Frontier Airlines, with the remaining six aircraft expected to join the fleet by December 2008. With the integration of Republic aircraft, the 'JetExpress' denotation was removed. Subsequent to the cessation of Horizon's services for Frontier in December 2007, all flights operated by Republic were sold and marketed as "Frontier Airlines, operated by Republic Airlines." The first market created specifically for the Embraer 170 was Louisville, Kentucky, which began on April 1, 2007. Service to Louisville was suspended in August 2008 but restarted in April 2010.

Flights operated by Republic Airlines offered in-flight snack and beverage services similar to Frontier's mainline flights. Unlike Frontier's aircraft and due to the nature of contracting with regional carriers, these Embraer 170 aircraft were not fitted with LiveTV.

Bankruptcy and acquisition by Republic

On April 10, 2008, Frontier announced that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to its credit card processor, First Data, attempting to withhold significant proceeds from ticket sales. First Data decided that it would withhold 100% of the carrier's proceeds from ticket sales beginning May 1.^[9] According to Frontier's press release, "This change in practice would have represented a material change to our cash forecasts and business plan. Unchecked, it would have put severe restraints on Frontier's liquidity..." Its operation continues uninterrupted, though, as Chapter 11 bankruptcy protects the corporation's assets and allows restructuring to ensure long-term viability.

After months of losses, Frontier Airlines reported that they made their first profit during the month of November 2008. Frontier Airlines reported $2.9 million in net income during the month of November.^[10]

On June 22, 2009, Frontier Airlines announced that pending bankruptcy court approval, Republic Airways Holdings, an Indianapolis based airline-holding company, would acquire all assets of Frontier Airlines for the amount of $108 million. Thus, Frontier Airlines would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Republic.^[11] However, 5 weeks later on July 30, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines announced that it would be making a competing bid of $113.6 million for Frontier with intentions to also operate Frontier as a wholly owned subsidiary, but also announced that it would gradually fold Frontier resources into current Southwest operating assets.^[12]

During a bankruptcy auction on August 13, 2009, Republic Airways Holdings acquired Frontier Airlines and its regional airline, Lynx Aviation, as wholly owned subsidiaries.^[13] Republic completed the transaction on October 1, 2009 and Frontier officially exited bankruptcy as a new airline.^[14]

In late 2009 Republic began to consolidate administrative positions and moved 140 jobs from the Frontier Airlines Denver headquarters to Indianapolis, Indiana.^[15] Shortly after that, in January 2010, Republic Airways announced that it will move all of its executives to Indianapolis.^[16] In February the Denver Business Journal stated that the headquarters would be moved "soon."^[17] Despite this, according to the Denver Business Journal, Frontier Airlines will still maintain a local headquarters in Denver to house Training, Marketing, Customer Reservations, and Scheduling & Planning teams after extending its lease on the building through 2020.

Merger with Midwest Airlines

As Republic Airways Holdings was in process of bidding to acquire Frontier in 2009, it was also in the process of acquiring Milwaukee-based Midwest Airlines. Through the fall and winter of 2009, Republic operated its two new acquisitions as separate brands. However, to improve efficiency by better matching aircraft capacity to route demand, Republic began to intermix the fleets of the two airlines, swapping a portion of its higher-capacity planes from Frontier with its smaller-capacity planes from Midwest and vice versa. However, the move caused some confusion amongst the public, as the two brands did not offer the same amenities and did not match the amenities mentioned on the airfare. As a result, in Spring of 2010 it was announced that the Frontier and Midwest Airlines brands would merge. On April 13, Republic announced that the Frontier Airlines name would be kept, and employees were issued new Frontier uniforms.^[18]

On April 13, 2011, Frontier announced the formation of a new subsidiary, Frontier Express, that was planned to operate the airline's smaller aircraft with different services than those available on full-size aircraft.^[19]

On September 9, 2011, Frontier notified the public of a 40% reduction of arriving and departing flights from MKE. Along with this reduction of flights, the company laid off approximately 140 employees from the MKE station. This includes but is not limited to, maintenance, grooming services, flight-line and gate, but no management personnel will be included in this layoff.^[20]

As of January 2012, Milwaukee has been cut so much that the airline does not operate a hub there anymore.^[21]

Maintenance awards

Frontier was awarded the FAA Diamond award for ten years straight, from 1999 through 2009. The Diamond award recognizes carriers whose mechanics and maintenance staff complete additional training and certifications beyond that required for normal FAA certification. In order to receive this award, a minimum of 25 percent of an airline's mechanics and maintenance staff must complete this additional training. Frontier is the only airline to have consecutively received this award for the last seven years, as well as the only airline to ever receive this award with 100% participation from its maintenance staff. Frontier's staff has maintained 100% participation for the last seven consecutive years during which it has earned this award.^[22]

2010's

Republic Airways spinoff of Frontier

Republic Airways is set to spinoff Frontier, because Republic Airways wants to return to its roots of regional contract flying for major carriers.^[23] On Januray 26, 2012 Republic Airways announced that it had appointed David Siegel as President and CEO of Frontier Airlines. Republic also announced the addition of new senior officers for Frontiers finance and commercial team, among other changes in the executive leadership team. David and other Frontier executives moved to Denver where Frontier is now headquartered. Daniel and his team will be in charge of all aspects of Frontier and will lead Frontier during its separation process from Republic and continue its transformation into a ultra-low-cost-carrier.^[2]

Regional Carriers

Current Regional Carriers

Frontier Express

Chautauqua Airlines operates Embraer 135 and 145 jets out of the General Mitchell International Airport focus city that were formerly operated for Midwest Connect. Frontier began branding these flights as Frontier Express in the spring of 2011.

Lynx Aviation

On September 6, 2006, Frontier announced that a new division of the holding company known as Lynx Aviation, would operate Bombardier Q400 aircraft beginning in May 2007.^[24] On December 5, 2007, Lynx Aviation received its operating certificate from the FAA. Lynx began passenger operations on the morning of December 6, 2007.

Since commencing operations, Lynx Aviation has added service to 12 regional destinations: Albuquerque, Aspen, Billings, Bozeman, Colorado Springs, Durango, Fargo, Jackson Hole (Seasonal), Oklahoma City, Rapid City, Tulsa, and Wichita. Two additional cities, Omaha and Salt Lake City, are served by Lynx Aviation along with Frontier Airlines mainline service.

In 2011, Lynx Aviation was folded into the Republic Airlines operating carrier certificate. Former Lynx aviation routes and aircraft are to be branded as Frontier Express in conjunction with the launch of Express service on Chautauqua-operated aircraft.

On 19 August 2010, Frontier announced that Lynx would continue operations between Denver and three Colorado citiesAspen, Durango and Colorado Springsusing three Bombardier Q400 aircraft,^[25] though this service was expected to end in April 2011.^[26] In January 2011, it was announced that four Lynx Q400s would continue to operate indefinitely.^[27]

Former Regional Carrier

Frontier JetExpress

In February 2002, the airline launched its first regional product, Frontier JetExpress, initially operated by Mesa Airlines using CRJ-200 regional jets. Similar to "express" operations of other carriers, Frontier JetExpress is targeted for markets to and from Denver that do not generate traffic sufficient to support Frontier's smallest mainline jet, the Airbus A318, but can still offer lucrative business with a smaller jet. The operation's head office was in the Hughes Center in Clark County, Nevada.^[28]

The initial JetExpress partnership with Mesa ended in January 2004, when Horizon Air was selected to operate the routes. Horizon utilized slightly larger CRJ-700 aircraft on these routes. In August 2006, Frontier and Horizon announced that their partnership would end.^[29] While Frontier was generally pleased with Horizon's operation, the carrier decided that it needed to revisit the agreement and find a provider with additional regional jets to grow the operation. The last of the CRJ-700's was returned to the Horizon Air fleet on November 30, 2007.

Destinations

Frontier Airlines currently flies to 83 destinations throughout Costa Rica, Mexico, and the United States.

Mexico service

At its peak, Frontier served 21 routes between 12 U.S. gateways and eight destinations in Mexico (excluding Charters). The expansion included routes from California, Indiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin to Mexico.

As of January 2012, Frontier operates 8 destinations in Mexico and operates 13 routes between Mexico and the U.S. gateways.^[30]

Codeshare agreements

Frontier Airlines has a codeshare agreement with the following airlines:

• Great Lakes Airlines: Connecting flights through Denver International Airport and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

Fleet

As of October 28, 2011, the Frontier Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:^[31]

References

External links

• Frontier Airlines
• Frontier Airlines Fleet Photos and Tail Closeups
• Wild Blue Yonder inflight magazine