Southwest Airlines on Tuesday announced service to two new cities from Denver, expanding at a record pace for the carrier at the same time competitors Frontier and United are contracting.
Southwest will begin three daily nonstop flights each to San Francisco and Omaha on Sept. 2.
The expansion is the fourth announced for Denver this year and will bring Southwest’s total daily flights from Denver to 95, up from 13 when it began local service in January 2006.
That marks the fastest growth in a single city in Dallas-based Southwest’s 37-year history, said spokesman Chris Mainz.
“Even with doom-and-gloom fuel prices, we’ve been able to grow our Denver service,” Mainz said. “Denver is a very important city to us because its location really helps us connect the dots in our network.”
Southwest has been able to expand service nationally — and maintain profitable operations — largely because it buys a majority of its fuel at previously contracted prices that are well below current market costs.
United Airlines last week said it would eliminate 19 flights from Denver as part of a nationwide 61-flight cutback to lower operating costs.
“We’re not pulling out of any cities (from Denver); we’re just not going to fly to some destinations as often,” said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski.
Frontier said last month it will discontinue service from Denver to Sioux City, Iowa; Jacksonville, Fla.; Little Rock, Ark.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Tulsa, Okla. In addition, it will not start a Denver-Missoula, Mont., route that was scheduled to begin this month.
Frontier is attempting to financially restructure after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month.
Frontier spokesman Steve Snyder said every $1-a-barrel rise in crude-oil prices adds $5 million annually to the carrier’s costs.
Crude oil for July delivery fell 1 cent Tuesday from its record close Monday, trading at $128.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil prices have risen 94 percent from a year ago.
Snyder said Southwest Airlines’ growth in Denver has not come at the expense of Frontier’s market share.
“We’ve had a lot of people sample Southwest,” he said, “but all things being equal and if we’re competitive, a lot of people prefer to fly with us.”
Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com
