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Frontier Airlines history
Frontier Airlines company history timeline
The company was incorporated in February and went public in May 1994.
The new airline took off in July 1994 utilizing Boeing 737 jetliners.
Scheduled flights began on July 5, 1994, using Boeing 737-200 jetliners between Denver and four cities in North Dakota.
Samuel D. Addoms would become Frontier's CEO in January 1995.
By January 1995, Frontier had expanded its route network from Denver and was serving destinations in New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota, Texas, Nevada, Nebraska, and Arizona.
In September 1995, a secondary public offering brought in $7.3 million of needed capital.
"Start-Ups Fly into Financial Head Wind," USA Today, February 11, 1996.
Lieber, Ronald B., "Dead Airline Names Take Off Again," Fortune, March 4, 1996.
"Give Frontier Execs Credit for Air Merger," Denver Business Journal, July 14, 1997.
In 1997, Frontier accused "monopolist" United Airlines of dumping--intentionally operating a large number of flights in order to gain market share--and other antitrust violations.
Maxon, Terry, "Denver-Based Carrier Adds Dallas–Fort Worth Service," Dallas Morning News, November 9, 1998.
WestPac went out of business early in 1998.
The airline was even serving between the two US coasts by the fall of 1999, along with operations to several distant states.
In 1999, Frontier signed agreements to begin purchasing and leasing Airbus A318 and A319 jet aircraft and had also added Boeing 737-300 jetliners to its fleet as well.
Thanks in part to aid payments from the government, Frontier began its recovery fairly quickly, beginning to restore cut flights as early as November 2001.
By 2001, the new Frontier Airlines was on Fortune magazine’s list of fastest-growing companies.
Frontier took delivery of its first Airbus aircraft (an A319) in 2001 and simultaneously launched with it DirecTV in-flight television along with a new company livery.
Markels, Alex, "Frontier, Seeing a Chance in Denver, Elbows In," New York Times, September 29, 2002.
Jeff Potter was appointed CEO in 2002.
In 2003 Frontier announced that it had ended its advanced-purchase requirement and made the fares for each flight uniform regardless of the time of day or the day of the week.
Frontier Airlines was the launch customer of the Airbus A318 in 2003.
In mid-April 2005, Frontier officially became an all-Airbus fleet, retiring its last Boeing 737.
Yamanouchi, Kelly, "Frontier Airlines Braces for Coming Financial Turbulence," Denver Post, October 30, 2005.
On April 3, 2006, Frontier created Frontier Airlines Holdings (FRNT), a holding company incorporated in Delaware to take advantage of favorable tax laws in that state.
On January 11, 2007, Frontier Airlines signed an 11-year service agreement with Republic Airways.
At the time the contract was canceled in April 2008, Republic Airways operated 11 aircraft for Frontier Airlines, with the remaining six aircraft expected to join the fleet by December 2008.
On April 10, 2008, Frontier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in reaction to the intent of its credit card processor, First Data, to withhold significant proceeds from ticket sales.
On June 22, 2009, Frontier Airlines announced that, pending bankruptcy court approval, Republic Airways Holdings, the Indianapolis-based parent company of Republic Airways, would acquire all assets of Frontier for the amount of $108 million.
Shortly after in January 2010, Republic Airways announced that it would move all of its executives to Indianapolis.
Upon the full merger and integration of Frontier and Midwest Airlines in October 2010, Frontier and its regional partners operated over 100 daily flights from the Milwaukee hub.
On April 13, 2011, Frontier formed a new subsidiary, Frontier Express, that was planned to operate the airline's smaller aircraft with different services than those available on full-size aircraft.
However, on September 9, 2011, Frontier notified the public of a 40% reduction of arriving and departing flights from MKE. Along with this reduction of flights, the company laid off approximately 140 employees from the MKE station.
In an effort to focus on regional contract flights for major carriers, Republic Airways Holdings announced in January 2012 its intention to sell or spin off Frontier.
In November 2012, Frontier started low-frequency service between Orlando International Airport and Trenton–Mercer Airport, located in Ewing, New Jersey, which at that time, had no commercial service.
In 2012, Frontier Airlines introduced onboard Wi-Fi on the airline’s Embraer 190 fleet.
In July 2013, Frontier started service from Wilmington-New Castle Airport near Wilmington, Delaware, to five destinations, which Frontier markets as Wilmington/Philadelphia.
In December 2013, Indigo Partners LLC, through an affiliate, completed the purchase of Frontier Airlines from Republic Airways Holdings.
In June 2014, Frontier Airlines opened a crew base for flight attendants at Trenton–Mercer Airport.
In 2014, Frontier announced it would be transitioning into an ultra-low cost carrier.
On January 16, 2015, Frontier announced that it would close both its Denver and Milwaukee call centers, laying off 1,300 employees and outsourcing the jobs to call center company, Sitel, which operates a large call center for Frontier in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
In January 2015, Frontier Airlines cut several flights from Wilmington and Trenton.
In February 2015, Frontier announced that they will begin service to several destinations from Atlanta adding the airport as a focus city.
In late June 2015, Frontier announced it had ceased service in Wilmington, stating it was not profitable.
Frontier later expanded service several times from Trenton, and as of June 2016 services 11 destinations.
In June 2016, Frontier re-established service to John Glenn Columbus International Airport.
Starting December 1, 2016, Frontier Airlines launched new service to Havana, Cuba, non-stop from Miami and with one-stop connections from Las Vegas and Denver.
In December 2016, a winter weather event disrupted fleet operations, causing Frontier to delay or cancel up to 70% of their flights during the peak of the crisis, many without any advance notice.
Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2016, and the new aircraft, part of the ongoing fleet renewal program that will replace older aircraft with newer and more fuel-efficient ones, will allow Frontier to reduce its operating and fuel costs and grow in new markets.
In early 2016 Frontier announced major route expansion from airports nationwide including Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Orlando, and Philadelphia.
In December 2017, Frontier began service to Buffalo, New York, with service to Denver, Colorado, and Florida, including Miami, Fort Myers, Orlando, and Tampa.
In August 2018, Frontier and Volaris, the Mexican low-cost carrier, began their codeshare agreement.
In April 2019, Frontier Airlines announced Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) as its 100th destination from its hub at Denver International Airport (DEN).
In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused airline traffic to plummet, including for Frontier Airlines that went from carrying 80,000 passengers a day down to 3,000.
In 2020, class-action lawsuits against Frontier were filed after the company refused to refund airfare for customers who could not travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 1, 2021, Frontier went public with an initial public offering on the Nasdaq exchange.
The year 2021 was considered by Frontier Airlines a year of extraordinary growth.
As of early 2022, Frontier is attempting to acquire Spirit Airlines, another US-based ultra low-cost carrier.
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Frontier Airlines competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit Airlines | 1983 | $4.9B | 10,000 | 20 |
| Alaska Airlines | 1932 | $10.4B | 23,376 | 120 |
| Delta Air Lines | 1924 | $61.6B | 86,564 | 257 |
| Southwest Airlines | 1967 | $27.5B | 58,803 | 39 |
| Airtran Airways | - | $2.6B | 8,330 | - |
| Allegiant Air | 1997 | $2.5B | 4,000 | 29 |
| Continental Airlines | 1934 | $2.7B | 10,001 | - |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 1929 | $2.6B | 6,674 | 19 |
| SkyWest Airlines | 1972 | $3.5B | 14,000 | 83 |
| American Airlines | 1930 | $54.2B | 133,700 | 194 |
Frontier Airlines history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Frontier Airlines, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Frontier Airlines. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Frontier Airlines. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Frontier Airlines. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Frontier Airlines and its employees or that of Zippia.
Frontier Airlines may also be known as or be related to Frontier Airlines, Frontier Airlines Inc and Frontier Airlines, Inc.