Frontier Decides to Keep Serving Aspen Year-Round

Frontier Airlines has decided to continue to serve the Aspen market on a year-round basis, with Bombardier Q400 turboprop regional aircraft.

The carrier will operate one daily round-trip flight between April 18 and June 5, 2011, at which point Frontier Airlines will increase its summer service to four daily round-trip flights.

Republic Airways Holdings subsidiary Frontier had intended to suspend service to Aspen in April, when it planned to remove its four remaining Bombardier Q400 turboprops from its fleet. However, after making changes to its fleet plan for the upcoming year, Frontier Airlines decided to keep the remaining, unsold Q400s – through subsidiary Lynx Aviation, Frontier had once operated 10 – and continue its Denver-Aspen service.

Frontier Airlines has decided to keep its remaining four unsold Bombardier Q400 turboprops and in 2011 is using them to provide service from Denver to the Colorado destinations Aspen, Colorado Springs and Durango. Retaining the Q400s has allowed Frontier to keep year-round service going to Aspen, when the airline had previously decided to drop low-season service from April 18 to June 5

“In the midst of a great winter season in the market, we are very pleased to continue serving the Aspen community,” says Daniel Shurz, Frontier Airlines’ vice president of strategy and planning. “In addition to providing our guests convenient access to this top travel destination, we are just as pleased to continue serving the Aspen community with Frontier’s affordable non-stop service to Denver which provides connections to our more than 70 destinations across the U.S., Mexico and Costa Rica.”

Frontier Airlines says it will primarily serve the Colorado destinations Aspen, Colorado Springs and Durango with its four remaining Q400s.

From April 18 to June 5, Frontier Airlines’ daily Q400 flight from Denver International Airport (DEN) to Aspen-Pitkin County Airport (ASE) will depart DEN at 12:33 p.m. and arrive at ASE at 1:22 p.m. In the other direction, the flight will leave ASE at 1:47 p.m. and reach DEN at 2:35 p.m.

Beginning June 6, Frontier will operate four flights a day throughout the summer season on the Denver-Aspen route. All flights will be operated by Q400s. The first flight of the day from Denver is scheduled to leave DEN at 8:12 a.m. and reach ASE at 9:00 a.m. The second flight is due to depart DEN at 12:15 p.m. and land at ASE at 1:04 p.m. The third flight is timed to push back from the gate at DEN at 3:05 p.m. and touch down at ASE at 3:52 p.m. The fourth and last flight is planned to leave DEN at 9:25 p.m. and get to ASE at 10:12 p.m.

In the other direction, from June 6 Frontier’s first flight from Aspen is timed to depart ASE at 7:00 a.m. and land at DEN at 7:45 a.m. The second flight leaves ASE at 9:25 a.m. and touches down at DEN at 10:15 a.m. The third flight is scheduled to leave ASE at 1:30 p.m. and get to DEN at 2:18 p.m. The last flight of the day on the route is planned for a 4:19 p.m. departure from ASE and a 5:06 p.m. arrival at DEN.

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