If you are not growing you are dying; at least that is what Frontier’s philosophy seems to be now. The carrier is expanding their network by adding up to 29 new cities this year, most coming from their new Lynx regional service to smaller mountain and Midwestern cities. New cities are coming online with their new partnership with Republic Airways which will be flying E170’s for the Frontier name.
New regional services with Frontier’s new Q400, are expected to start sometime in early 2007. New services to cities include Louisville, Ky., starting April 1st, and Frontier’s second Canadian city, Vancouver, starts in May.
All of this comes as the company had a brutal 3rd quarter. The company lost millions from the 3 consecutive snow storms that shut down Denver International Airport for days, forcing Frontier to cancel nearly 900 flights and delay over 100,000 passengers. The storms reduced revenue by $13.2 million and prompted the company to spend an extra $1.2 million over the prior year on de-icer. Frontier also spent $900,000 more in additional wages related to flight crews and station personnel.
But the airline, in my opinion, is moving in the right direction. By moving into markets where the Southwest will not be able to fly into with their current business model, Frontier is taking that next step to get a hold on a market that has been relatively untapped.
Denver Business Journal
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