As Frontier Airlines formally announced today it will begin flying in May from Denver to its first Canadian city, Calgary, the company voiced interest in expanding further into Canada in the future.
“We see Calgary as a starting point,” said Frontier’s senior vice president of marketing and planning John Happ.
Meanwhile, other airports in Canada are also interested in additional flights to Denver.
“We would love to have Frontier start up a new route to Ottawa,” said Ottawa International Airport vice president of business development and marketing John Spinks, who plans to meet with Frontier at an upcoming industry conference to present information on the Ottawa market. “Hopefully we’ll get some good vibes going and make something happen in the next twelve months or so,” he said.
It’s not unusual for airports to court airlines to attract more flights. Frontier has been researching Canadian flights for more than a year, and other airports there are also aware of Frontier’s interest in Canada.
“We’re aware that Frontier Airlines is interested in Canada,” said Vancouver International Airport Authority spokeswoman Kate Forrester. She said there is nothing specific to talk about now, but added, “We do see strong growth between the U.S. market and Canada and we would welcome additional service to Denver.”
Frontier will begin its two daily non-stop flights from Denver to Calgary May 25 on its JetExpress regional jet service operated by Horizon Air. The flights will be on 70-seat Canadair RJ-700 planes, and can connect in Denver to 38 other cities and five cities in Mexico. The airport authority is offering some cooperative marketing funding to Frontier to promote the flights.
Frontier’s only other international flights are to Mexico, which it has expanded significantly in the past three years to seven Mexican cities.
Air Canada operates daily flights to Toronto from Denver and will begin flying to Montreal from Denver in June. United has daily flights to Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Calgary from Denver, and will add daily flights to Toronto from Denver in June.
Canadian Consul Marc Boucher said he is interested in getting additional flights on existing routes to Canada from Denver.
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at 303-820-1488 or at kyamanouchi@denverpost.com .
