Frontier Airlines on Wednesday answered skeptics who question why the Denver-based carrier is starting Los Angeles-San Francisco flights and going up against stiff competition outside of its home base.
The skepticism comes in light of Frontier’s unsuccessful Los Angeles “focus city” operation nearly two years ago.
“An issue with Wall Street and others is, ‘Why in the heck would you go back into Los Angeles after getting smacked around two years ago?”‘ Frontier chief financial officer Paul Tate said at a Bear Stearns transportation conference in New York.
Beginning June 29, Frontier will fly five times daily between San Francisco International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. It will go up against United and American Airlines out of San Francisco and Southwest Airlines out of Oakland.
Tate said many of the Frontier routes out of Los Angeles weren’t of interest to fliers. But he said the Los Angeles-San Francisco route is much more popular.
Average fares on the Los Angeles-San Francisco route are relatively high for a short route, Tate said. It’s an average of around $125 one way for less than 400 miles, compared with Frontier’s average of around $100 for 950 miles, he said. Fares are often lower out of Oakland. Frontier wants to lower fares out of San Francisco and stimulate traffic there, he said.
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at kyamanouchi@denverpost.com or 303-820-1488.
