Sean Menke will become Frontier Airlines’ new chief executive and president, replacing Jeff Potter, who announced earlier this month that he was resigning.
Menke, 38, will take the helm at Frontier on Sept. 7, the carrier announced this morning.
“I think there’s a lot of potential here,” Menke said.
Menke had been Frontier’s senior vice president and chief operating officer until he left in June 2005 to become chief commercial officer at Air Canada. He recently was named executive vice president of commercial strategy at Air Canada.
Menke will be paid an annual salary of $325,000 and will receive initial grants of 100,000 stock-option stock appreciation rights and 30,000 restricted stock units under an executive bonus plan and equity incentive plan at the same level as Potter.
Potter received total compensation of $622,829 in Frontier’s fiscal year ended March 31, including a salary of $311,250.
During his first run, Menke spent six years at Frontier and led the development of Frontier’s “A Whole Different Animal” brand.
With the CEO position, Menke will become a member of Frontier’s board. Potter will remain on the board.
Menke joins Frontier as the airline faces harsh competition at its Denver hub from Southwest Airlines and United Airlines and problems maintaining consistent profitability, suffering a net loss in its most recent quarter when other airlines were reporting profits.
“I sort of bring an outside perspective and have the capability of maybe tweaking what we’re doing a little bit,” Menke said. “We do need to execute the strategy that’s in place. … Over time, if we need to make changes we will, but, again, I’m very confident in what the leadership has laid out.”
He joins the company as it works on launching a new turboprop subsidiary operation to fly to mountain destinations such as Aspen and smaller airports, including Sioux City, Iowa.
During Menke’s tenure, Air Canada has been drawing attention for launching a system of a la carte pricing, where passengers can choose to pay less if they don’t want to earn frequent-flier miles for a trip or more for checked baggage and in-flight meal vouchers, for example.
It’s a system that Frontier has said it is considering.
“I am an advocate of that,” Menke said. “There is a balance, and the balance is the technology to support that.”
Frontier also has been seen as a potential takeover target or candidate for a merger as it struggles in Denver.
“I’ll spend time with Jeff (Potter) during this transition period, and, you know, that topic will come up and we’ll discuss it,” Menke said. “As it stands, it’s a stand-alone strategy. Now, from a shareholder perspective, we’ll always have to continue to look at what is right for the shareholder as well. But, again, I am very focused on growing the company as a stand-alone company because I think there’s just a number of wonderful things that can be done.”
Menke recently moved back to Denver with his family for “personal and family reasons” while continuing to travel for his job with Montreal-based Air Canada.
“The highest praise that I can give Sean is to say that he is one of the few people to whom I would hand over the reins of a company that I care about as deeply and passionately as I do Frontier,” Potter said in a statement.
“Sean is one of the most respected leaders in the aviation industry, and we are very excited to welcome him back to Frontier,” said Frontier chairman Sam Addoms in a statement. Addoms also will step down from the chairman position Sept. 6.
Frontier announced, as well, that it is promoting Chris Collins to executive vice president and chief operations officer.
“Chris is a very good guy, a good operations guy,” Menke said.
Further, the company is promoting Paul Tate to executive vice president and chief financial officer and David Sislowski to senior vice president and general counsel.
Potter, who will become chief executive of Denver-based luxury destination club Exclusive Resorts Inc., was well-liked by employees and seen as an approachable leader.
“Jeff and I, I think, are a lot alike,” Menke said. “One of the things that will be a void right away will be his ability to engage in the employee base. I feel capable of doing that very well.”
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at kyamanouchi@denverpost.com or 303-954-1488.
