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A second time for Frontier it was California and bust

Carrier again scales back flights in state

Chris Walsh, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 5, 2007 at midnight

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Talk about deja vu.

Frontier Airlines' decision to nix service between Los Angeles and San Francisco this summer marks the carrier's second scrapped effort to fly nonstop from L.A. to other U.S. cities besides Denver.

In both cases, Frontier wasn't able to get the number of passengers and the level of fares it needed to make the routes profitable.

Its difficulties in California underscore the challenges Frontier faces as it looks to expand outside its Denver hub, a move observers say is necessary for the company's long-term survival.

"They saw a market where there were very high fares, and they thought they could take advantage of it," Evergreen-based aviation consultant Mike Boyd said, referring to the decision to start L.A.-San Francisco service. "But it's hard for an airline to get into those markets" without having a larger presence.

Frontier has had success in recent years flying nonstop from U.S. cities to resort destinations in Mexico. But it has found it more difficult to execute that strategy with purely domestic routes.

Aside from the decision to cancel the service between Los Angeles and San Francisco, Frontier also said this week it will end flights between San Francisco and Las Vegas. It still flies from Denver to those destinations.

The moves come two years after Frontier pulled back from its "focus city" in Los Angeles, a short-lived experiment in which the carrier flew nonstop to four cities besides Denver.

Frontier essentially has struggled to gain a solid foothold in these markets against entrenched carriers with a much larger presence, both in the number of flights and in marketing and advertising budgets. While Frontier has strong name recognition in Denver, many people in larger cities simply aren't familiar with it.

The carrier said its decision to end the L.A.-San Francisco route was also tied to significant fee increases at Los Angeles International Airport and new competition.

"Basically after trying for a year or so, we just weren't able to reach our goals despite our best efforts there," said Alex Headrick, Frontier's communications coordinator.

Despite the setbacks in California, the carrier said it will continue to pursue similar opportunities elsewhere. Frontier will start nonstop flights this month from Memphis, Tenn., to both Orlando, Fla., and Las Vegas.

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