frontier airlines

Frontier Airlines, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRNT), is a low-cost airline based at Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado, USA. It operates flights throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

Frontier is a national low-cost airline with two thirds of its US destinations west of the Mississippi River. The carrier maintains its primary hub at Denver International Airport, and provides regional service to the surrounding Rocky Mountain States through a codeshare agreement with Great Lakes Airlines. The airline also codeshares with Horizon Air, operated as Frontier JetExpress. Recently, the carrier announced that its successful partnership with Horizon Air will end, with the transition to begin in 2007.

While Frontier does market itself as a low-cost carrier, it differentiates itself in the market by offering LiveTV, an in-seat cable television service, on all domestic flights. LiveTV is also offered on jetBlue, which purchased LiveTV after originally agreeing to outfit its entire fleet with the service.

Frontier offers a single class of service. It does not offer first class, business class, or passenger lounge clubs. Frontier does offer a frequent flier program, called EarlyReturns. Frontier was one of the first carriers to offer a virtual "mall", allowing passengers to spend accrued miles on merchandise and unique services. Frontier is not a member of any of the major air carrier alliances.

Route Structure

Unlike some low-cost carriers, Frontier operates a hub and spoke route system, with nearly all flights originating or arriving at its Denver hub. Various low cost carriers such as Southwest and jetBlue use a more linear point-to-point route system with several focus cities. While the hub system can move people efficiently, it is also dependent on critical coordination at a single point. The linear flight system is less interdependent and therefore less prone to interruption. A single hub is also vulnerable to competitive concentration as shown with Southwest Airlines' current growth at Denver.

Hub-and-spoke systems like Frontier's, however, can simplify passenger connections. Long-distance itineraries between Frontier cities generally require no more than one connection (in Denver), whereas a linear carrier may require multiple connections to span a long distance. Hub-and-spoke systems can also simplify maintenance, as all aircraft transit a hub frequently.

Although Frontier is largely designed as a hub-and-spoke carrier, the airline does offer a number of routes, particularly to Mexico, that do not begin or end at Denver. In addition, in summer 2006, the carrier introduced nonstop service between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Frontier has deferred expansion in the competitive East Coast cities such as Boston and Pittsburgh, but otherwise is expanding outside the US in Mexico and Canada. However, the carrier does service the Florida tourist destinations and the business essential cities of New York, Philadelphia and Washington along the East Coast. The remaining Eastern interior city destinations are in the Midwest along with Atlanta and Nashville in the South. Contrary to Southwest Airlines, Frontier uses only one alternative airport in the East at Akron, which services the Cleveland market.

In addition to expansion in Mexico and Canada, Frontier is steadily increasing frequencies on its existing routes.

Mexico service

The carrier offers extensive service to Mexican resort cities, with a significant expansion to Mexico scheduled for December 2006.

From Denver, Frontier flies to Cancún, Cabo San Lucas, Cozumel, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, and Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo. Service between Denver and Guadalajara, the first Mexican non-leisure market for Frontier, begins in December 2006.

Frontier maintains a focus city at Cancún, Mexico, offering point-to-point nonstop service to and from Indianapolis, Nashville, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Salt Lake City. The carrier also serves Cancún fron its Denver hub. In December 2006, the carrier will introduce new non-stop service between San Diego and Cancún.

The airline is expanding its nonstop, point-to-point routes to other Mexican cities. It currently offers service between Kansas City and Puerto Vallarta, and has received approval to operate Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas and Kansas City to Cabo San Lucas in December 2006.

Frontier is very discreet with their new destinations. In early August 2006, Frontier announced that they would begin service to Guadalajara (GDL) from Denver (DEN) on December 22, 2006. This is Frontier's first non-leisure destination in Mexico, and combined with the further Mexican expansion announced by the airline in August and September 2006, Frontier will have 18 routes into Mexico.

Frontier JetExpress

In February 2002, the airline launched its first "express" product, Frontier JetExpress, initially operated by Mesa Airlines using CRJ-200 regional jets. Similar to "express" operations of other carriers, Frontier JetExpress is targeted at routes 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 initial partnership with Mesa ended in January 2004, when Horizon Air was selected to operate the routes. Horizon utilizes slightly larger CRJ-700 aircraft on these routes. In August 2006, Frontier and Horizon announced that their partnership would end. On September 6, 2006, Frontier announced that a new wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, known as Lynx Aviation, would operate 10 Bombardier Q-400 aircraft beginning in May 2007 as FrontierExpress. (see below) 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.

As of September 2006, Frontier Airlines offers both mainline service and Frontier JetExpress service between Denver and Albuquerque, Austin, Billings, Dayton, Omaha, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, San Jose, and Spokane. Frontier JetExpress operates all departures from Denver to Boise, El Paso, Fresno, and Tulsa.

Frontier JetExpress service offers in-flight snack and beverage service similar to Frontier's mainline flights, but unlike mainline aircraft, JetExpress aircraft are not fitted with LiveTV.

History

Frontier Airlines was founded in 1994 by executives of a previous incarnation of Frontier Airlines. Scheduled flights began in 1994 utilizing Boeing 737 aircraft. Like the original, Frontier flies out of Denver and competes with United Airlines and its subsidiary Ted, each of which use Denver as a hub. In the late 1990s, Frontier began purchasing Airbus aircraft and offering DirecTV in-flight television on its new aircraft. In mid-April 2005, Frontier officially became an all-Airbus fleet, retiring its last 737. It now has an average fleet age of less than two years, making its fleet one of the United States’ youngest.

Frontier Airlines was the launch customer of the Airbus A318 in 2003, and now has seven in its fleet. Frontier has routes extending from coast to coast and to Mexico. The vast majority of its flights are through its Concourse A hub in Denver, although Frontier has recently begun direct service to Cancún from several other cities. Frontier did have an abortive attempt to establish a focus city at Los Angeles International Airport in 2003-4, but retreated under heavy competition. In 2006, Frontier returned to the California market with five daily point-to-point routes between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Frontier is facing major competition from Southwest Airlines, which entered the Denver International Airport market in January 2006. Due to Southwest's growth at Denver and a resurgent United Airlines, Frontier has limited space to grow at Denver without committing to airport expansion, which would in turn be paid for by higher fees to the airline.

Frontier has a codeshare arrangement with Horizon Air, serving several smaller markets using CRJ-700 aircraft under the name Frontier JetExpress. Frontier also has a codeshare with regional carrier Great Lakes Airlines, connecting flights at Denver International Airport and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

On September 6, 2006, Frontier announced that a new division of the holding company known as Lynx Aviation, would operate 10 Bombardier Q400 aircraft beginning in May 2007 as FrontierExpress.^[1] The first Q400 will be delivered in May 2007 with one additional aircraft per month from July through September and two per month from October through December. The 10 option aircraft would be delivered March 2008 through January 2009.^[2]

Maintenance Awards

Frontier has been awarded the FAA Diamond award for seven years straight, from 1999 through 2006. The Diamond award recognizes carriers whose mechanics and maintenance staff complete additional training and certifications beyond that required for normal FAA certification.

Destinations

Main article: Frontier Airlines destinations

Fleet

The Frontier Airlines has an all-Airbus fleet consisting of the following aircraft as of July 2006:

The average Frontier Airlines fleet age is 2.6 years old as of March 2006.

On September 6, 2006, the airline announced an order for 10 Bombardier Q400 aircraft (and options for a further 10) to be delivered starting in May 2007, to be operated by a wholly-owned subsidiary of the airline going by the name of Lynx Aviation.

Livery

The Frontier Airlines livery consists of an all-white fuselage with silver billboard-style “Frontier” titles on the sides of the aircraft. Frontier uses wildlife photography on the vertical stabilizers and winglets of the aircraft to produce a distinctive look, touted in their advertisements along with their slogan: “A Whole Different Animal.”

The concepts used in the livery extend into Frontier’s marketing as well. Animal aircraft used in their radio and television commercials include Jack the rabbit, Grizwald the bear, Foxy the fox (for whom Jack has a crush), Flip the dolphin (who always gets stuck going to cold climates instead of Florida), Larry the lynx, and Sal the cougar. New additions are Penguins Jim, Joe, Jay, and Gary, a barbershop-style quartet, singing the praises of the program to an audience of Frontier’s well-known characters from the “a whole different animal” campaign, and Hector the otter, advertising Frontier's expanded service to Mexico.

Tail Names

Each animal on the tail of a Frontier Airlines Airbus has a name. Their names are...

Airbus A319

• N901FR-Wolf "Wally"
• N902FR-Wood Duck "Woody"
• N903FR-Orca Whale "Ozzy"
• N904FR-Swan "Grace"
• N905FR-Seal "Sherman"
• N906FR-Pronghorn "Andy"
• N907FR-Mule Deer "Mel"
• N908FR-Heron "Holly"
• N909FR-Canadian Goose "Lucy"
• N910FR-Mountain Lion "Sal"
• N912FR-Red Fox "Trixie"
• N913FR-Hummingbird "Hamilton"
• N914FR-Egret "Stretch"
• N915FR-Mustang "Sally"
• N916FR-Mallard Duck "O'Malley"
• N917FR-Snowy Owl "Doc"
• N918FR-Whitetail Deer "Jake"
• N919FR-Ocelot "Lance"
• N920FR-Coyote "Carl"
• N921FR-Mountain Goat "Fritz"
• N922FR-Red Fox "Foxy"
• N923FR-Raccoon "Rudy"
• N924FR-Polar Bear Cubs "Klondike and Snow"
• N925FR-Dall's Sheep "Dale"
• N926FR-Fawn "Domino"
• N927FR-Bottlenose Dolphin "Flip"

• N928FR-Bobcat "Hank"
• N929FR-Lynx "Larry"
• N930FR-Cougar w/ Cub "Lola and Max"
• N931FR-Black Bear Cub "Jo-Jo"
• N932FR-Bald Eagle "Sarge"
• N933FR-Hawk "Sebastian"
• N934FR-Baby Lynx "L.J."
• N935FR-Sea Otter "Hector"
• N936FR-Walrus "Earl"
• N937FR-Blue Crowned Conure "Carmen"
• N938FR-Arctic Fox "Misty"
• N939FR-Emperor Penguins "Jim, Joe, Jay, and Gary"
• N940FR-Snowshoe Hare "Jack"
• N941FR-Grey Wolf "Lobo"
• N942FR-Ram "Stan"
• N943FR-Deer Fawn "Cloe"
• N944FR-Polar Bear w/ Cub "Alberta and Clipper"
• N945FR-Bull Moose "Chocolate"
• N946FR-Horned Puffin "Perry"
• N947FR-Leopard
• N948FR-Pelican
• N949FR-White Ermine

Airbus A318

• N801FR-Grizzly Bear "Grizwald"
• N802FR-Elk "Montana"
• N803FR-Rabbit "Stu"
• N804FR-Kit Fox Cubs Cubs "Mo and Jo"
• N805FR-Great Gray Owl "Ollie"
• N806FR-Bison "Humphrey"
• N807FR-Cougar "Charlie"

Confusion with Frontier Flying Service

Frontier Airlines is occasionally confused with Fairbanks, Alaska–based Frontier Flying Service, because of the similarity in name. Passengers at Anchorage International Airport are especially prone to this confusion, because both Frontiers fly out of the airport, albeit from different concourses (The "Lower 48" Frontier uses B, while Frontier Flying Service uses A).

References

External links

• Frontier Airlines
• Frontier Airlines Fleet Age
• Frontier Airlines Fleet Detail
• Frontier Airlines Passenger Opinions