Frontier Airlines has issued a request for proposals from communities interested in attracting flights on the carrier’s regional jets or turboprop planes.
The Denver-based airline made the request this week to more than 50 communities throughout Colorado and within a radius of about 1,200 miles of Denver.
The move comes as Frontier starts up a subsidiary that will provide service with 74-seat Bombardier Q400 turboprop planes beginning in mid-2007. The carrier plans to fly the planes to as many as 18 destinations in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains.
Frontier also plans to expand its fleet of 70-seat regional jets to as many as 20 aircraft and is seeking a new regional-jet operator to replace Horizon Air. According to an analyst report from Raymond James & Associates Inc., SkyWest and Republic airlines are “the likely leaders in the competition for this business.”
In Colorado, communities including Steamboat Springs, Grand Junction, Aspen and Vail have expressed interest in Frontier flights. Airports outside Colorado also are interested in luring the carrier.
The turboprops and the regional jets are smaller than Frontier’s “mainline” Airbus jets, which seat 114 or 132 passengers.
Separately, Frontier announced Tuesday it will launch a daily flight on its Airbus jets between San Francisco and Las Vegas on Dec. 14. The new flights will make California the airline’s second-largest market after its Denver hub.
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at 303-954-1488 or kyamanouchi@denverpost.com.
