Frontier Airlines
Frontier Airlines 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 regional airline with two thirds of its US destinations west of the Mississippi River. The Rocky Mountain States are the carrier's focus coverage area; this coverage is augmented with codesharing commuter airlines based at Denver. Frontier has deferred expansion in the competitive East Coast cities such as Boston, 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.
Unlike most low cost carriers, Frontier operates a hub and spoke route system. Various low cost carriers such as Southwest and Jetblue use a more linear point-to-point route system. While the hub system can move people efficiently, it is also dependant 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 Airline's current growth at Denver.
The First Frontier
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Logo of the original Frontier Airlines |
The original Frontier Airlines was founded by the June 1950 merger of Monarch Airlines, Challenger Airlines, and Arizona Airways, which served routes in the
Great Plains and
Western United States. It was based at
Stapleton International Airport in
Denver, Colorado, where it competed with
Continental Airlines and
United Airlines. Frontier further expanded its network by merging with
Central Airlines in
1967.
The airline's economics declined in the
1970s, and plans to sell the airline to its employees, then to
Frank Lorenzo's
Texas Air group fell through. In
1985 it was acquired by
People Express, but the merger pushed both companies into bankruptcy. In
1986, People Express and Frontier Airlines were both merged into Continental Airlines, a Texas Air unit.
The Second Frontier
The new Frontier Airlines was founded in
1994 by former Frontier executives. 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.
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Frontier Airlines Boeing 737-300 |
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.
Destinations are listed at
Frontier Airlines destinations.
Frontier is very discreet with their new destinations. In early March, Frontier announced they would begin flying to
Calgary (
Calgary International Airport). This is the first time a Low Cost Carrier based in the US has flown into
Canada since
Valujet flew to
Montreal back in the mid 1990s.
*Top 10 Frontier Airports by Weekly Departures (July 29, 2006)
**1.
Denver International Airport (DEN), CO 1,105
**2.
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), CA 82
**3.
San Francisco International Airport (SFO), CA 66
**4.
Kansas City International Airport (MCI), MO 45
**5.
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), TX 42
**5.
Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS), NV 42
**7.
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), AZ 41
**7.
San Diego International Airport (SAN), CA 41
**7.
Salt Lake International Airport (SLC), UT 41
**10.
Midway Airport Chicago (MDW), IL 35
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Frontier Airlines Airbus A318 |
The Frontier Airlines has an all-Airbus fleet consisting of the following aircraft (at July 2006):
Frontier Airlines Fleet | Seats | Orders/Options | | Airbus A318-110 | 7 | 114 | 4 |
| Airbus A319-100 | 47 | 132 | 6 |
| Airbus A320-200 | 0 | ? | 10|}
The average Frontier Airlines fleet age is 2.6 years old as of March 2006.*Frontier airlines made history when they hired Emily Howell Warner in 1973. She was the first female airline pilot hired by a U.S. commercial airline. She was awarded her captain's wings three years later.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.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-HeronAirbus 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"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).*Frontier Airlines
*Frontier Airlines Fleet Age
*Frontier Airlines Fleet Detail
*Frontier Airlines Passenger Opinions
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