Frontier Names Three New Turboprop Destinations

Frontier Airlines will begin offering low-fare nonstop service from its Denver International Airport hub to three new destinations in October with a fleet of 10 Bombardier Q400 fast turboprop aircraft.

Through its new subsidiary carrier Lynx Aviation, which will operate the brand-new, 74-seat Q400s, Frontier will launch service from Denver to Wichita Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita, Kan. on October 1. Service to Rapid City, S.D. and to Sioux City, Iowa will begin on October 5.

The Frontier regional-airline subsidiary will operate three daily roundtrips to Wichita and two to both Rapid City and Sioux City.

Frontier -- known for painting a different animal portrait on the tail of each of its aircraft and for its humorous TV advertisements that feature animals -- is offering introductory, one-way, off-peak fares of $109 between Denver and Wichita; $99 between Denver and Rapid City and $84 between Denver and Sioux City. Round-trip purchase is required and all sale fares must be purchased by 9:59 p.m. MDT on August 15.

Lynx Aviation will launch service with its Q400s to a total of some nine new Frontier Airlines destinations by December, according to Jeff Potter, the airline's president and CEO.

"When the idea of sending out a request for proposal to communities for low-fare service was first floated, I will admit I was skeptical," remarked Potter. "That skepticism faded as we began to get these compelling, heartfelt proposals for communities round the country, telling us how much ... our low-fare, high-quality service would mean to them."

Added Potter: "In the end, we sent out 65 proposals and heard back from 62 communities, most of whom eloquently demonstrated they wanted Frontier."

The addition of turboprop Bombardier Q400 regional airliners to the airline's fleet represents a new phase in Frontier's growth. This "has previously been fueled by mainline aircraft and the addition of key mainline markets," said John Happ, Frontier's senior vice president of marketing and planning.

"Today's new markets, as well as the additional Q400 cities we will announce in the near future, represent a critical step in our diversification plan," he said. "These high-yield, smaller-density markets can leverage the strengths of our Denver hub by taking advantage not only of the non-stop Denver service but also the tremendous connecting opportunities our hub can offer."

Not including the three cities that Lynx Aviation will begin serving in October, Frontier's network includes 60 destinations in the United States, Central America and Canada. The new destinations that Lynx will add to the Frontier Airlines network "will play a primary role in Frontier's growth for the next several years," said Happ.

Frontier describes the Q400 as "extraordinary" because it can add to the airline's network s network under-served destinations that would be "unreachable" by its mainline and regional-jet fleet. On the flight stages on which Lynx will operate the Q400, Frontier says the turboprop airliner is 30 per cent more fuel efficient than similarly sized jets, yet is just as fast.

In addition, it features Bombardier's patented noise and vibration suppression system that uses microphones concealed in the fuselage to measure noise levels and propeller vibration -- which produces most of the noise heard inside a propeller-driven aircraft's cabin -- and send the information to an onboard computer.

The computer continually analyzes and processes this information and sends instructions to devices called active tuned vibration absorbers, which are mounted on the aircraft's fuselage frames. These absorbers produce counter-vibrations that cancel out almost all of the original vibrations created as pressure pulses produced by the propeller blades beat against the fuselage.

Lynx Aviation expects all 10 of its new Q400s to be delivered by December. Frontier Airlines' new regional-airline subsidiary has already received conditional approval from the Department of Transportation (DOT) to begin service in September. Lynx is in the process of securing the appropriate Federal Aviation Administration approval to conduct flight operations, after which the DOT will grant the carrier final operational and commercial approval.

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