Frontier to add Mexico flights

Chris Walsh, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 8, 2006 at midnight

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Frontier Airlines will boost flights from Denver to Mexico by roughly 30 percent this winter holiday season as it continues to carve a niche internationally while facing more competition on domestic routes.

The Denver-based carrier plans to add 13 flights a week from mid-December to early January - one of the peak travel times to Mexico - compared with the same period a year earlier. New service includes seven additional weekly flights to Cancún and two each to Puerto Vallarta, San Jose del Cabo and Cozumel.

Frontier, Denver's second-largest carrier, temporarily reduced flights to Cancún and Cozumel last fall after Hurricane Wilma battered the cities. But it resumed full service for the winter holidays.

The carrier has found a fast-growing market in Mexico during the past few years and now offers daily nonstop service from several U.S. cities to seven resort destinations south of the border.

Although the airline increased demand overall, some travelers who had planned to visit Cancún and Cozumel last fall ended up going to other resorts instead after the hurricane, spurring more interest in those cities this winter.

"Other places in Mexico all got big increases in traffic" last year, said Joe Cambron, Frontier's director of planning. "This upcoming season . . . people are interested in returning to the places they tried last year."

Aside from Mexico, Frontier plans to add one daily flight from Denver to both Chicago and Dallas and switch to larger planes on some routes this fall.

Also Wednesday, Linhart McClain Finlon Public Relations said it has been selected as Frontier's national public relations firm. Linhart will try to help strengthen the carrier's brand outside Denver.

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walshc@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2744

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