Frontier Adds Seasonal Kansas City-Fort Myers Service

Republic Airways Holdings subsidiary Frontier Airlines is launching December-April seasonal nonstop service between Kansas City International Airport (MCI) and Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers, Florida.

Sunspot destination Fort Myers will be the carrier’s 15th nonstop destination from Kansas City.

Frontier Airlines will offer a weekly round-trip flight beginning on December 18, 2010, and will increase service to two weekly roundtrip flights in February. An introductory $119 one-way fare is available on www.FrontierAirlines.com/introfares through December 18, 2010.

Frontier Airlines Airbus A319 N929FR, "Larry the Lynx", takes off from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Under the ownership of Republic Airways Holdings, Frontier Airlines operates a fleet of Airbus A318s, A319s and A320s; Bombardier Q400s; Embraer ERJ-135s and ERJ-145s; and Embraer 175s and 190s. All of the Embraers were originally ordered by its parent company for operation by other carriers in the group before Republic bought Frontier, which Republic has merged with another carrier it bought, Midwest Airlines

“Kansas City has been a huge area of growth for Frontier this past year and we’re thrilled to add yet another nonstop destination this winter,” says Daniel Shurz, vice president of strategy and planning. “Providing the only nonstop access between Kansas City and Fort Myers furthers our commitment to the community by providing our guests with convenient and affordable access to the places they want to fly.”

Frontier will operate a 99-seat Embraer 190 aircraft on the new route. The airline’s Embraer 190s offer leather seating in a two-by-two configuration with four rows of extended-legroom ‘STRETCH’ seating, which provides an additional five inches of legroom. Frontier Airlines says its Embraer fleet will also be outfitted with Gogo in-flight internet service in early 2011.

The airline will operate its seasonal MCI-RSW service on Saturdays from December 18 through April 16. Its second weekly flight will operate on Tuesdays from February 8 to March 29. Frontier’s schedule on the route calls for the Embraer 190 to depart MCI at 2:25 p.m. and arrive at RSW at 6:15 p.m. local time. In the other direction, the flight is timed to leave RSW at 6:45 p.m. and to reach MCI at 9:05 p.m. local time.

Frontier’s parent Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. also owns Midwest Airlines, Chautauqua Airlines, Lynx Aviation, Republic Airlines and Shuttle America. Now in its 17th year of operations (as the third airline to bear the Frontier Airlines name), Frontier employs more than 5,500 people and operates more than 550 daily flights from its hubs at Denver International Airport and Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport. Frontier offers routes to more than 70 destinations in the United States, Mexico and Costa Rica.

On April 13, 2010, Republic Airways announced that its two branded carriers, Frontier and Midwest, would combine under the Frontier Airlines name. The integration of these two airlines is expected to take 12 to 18 months.

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