Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
Frontier Airlines is serious about the Eagle County market. Proof came Tuesday with the announcement of destinations and a fare sale.
Service will begin in December from three cities: Dallas, Denver and San Francisco. The flights come with a temporary sale, with fares starting at $99. That promotion will run for about a week.
Eagle County Aviation Director David Reid said the announcement helps fulfill one of the “prime missions” of the airport: “to provide year-round, affordable, accessible air service for our community and for all the travelers that come into this valley.”
Tuesday’s announcement is a big step toward that goal, Reid added.
While the flights begin in December, Jennifer de la Cruz, Frontier’s senior director of corporate communications, said the service will be mostly year-round, with some seasonal reductions or temporary stops.
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“But generally, we are viewing it as year-round,” de la Cruz said.
‘A game-changer’
And, while the airport is waiving its usual fees for the first year, Frontier is coming in without asking for “minimum revenue guarantees.” Airlines often ask for those guarantees, based on how many passengers they believe they need for a route to be profitable. If passenger numbers fall below that level, the local market makes up the difference.
Vail Mayor Travis Coggin said coming in without a subsidy is a great show of faith in the Eagle County market.
“I’ve already heard from quite a few people that they’re very excited to have a new airline that fits a new segment of our market,” Coggin said.
Coggin wasn’t the only local official happy with Tuesday’s announcement. Eagle County Manager Jeff Shroll has spent years, both in his current role and his previous role as Gypsum Town Manager, working to land a low-cost carrier for the airport.
“This has been something we’ve been working very hard for a long time,” Shroll said. “I think it’s a game-changer.”
Shroll thanked the representatives of Frontier, but also credited the team at the airport who worked “tirelessly behind the scenes” to attract more carriers. Shroll also thanked the EGE Air Alliance, the nonprofit local group dedicated to boosting service at the airport.
Beyond just bringing service to Eagle County, Reid noted that an airline also must have the equipment and pilots to operate at the local airport’s 6,700-foot runway elevation.
Reid said every airline has its certification process for pilots to fly into and out of high-elevation airports. But the Federal Aviation Administration requires that airliners must be able to fly out of the airport on one engine if needed. Leaving Eagle County on the steep departure over Gypsum’s Red Hill requires quite a bit of power. Frontier’s fleet is made up entirely of Airbus aircraft that have the needed power to make that emergency ascent, he said.
With year-round service from a low-cost carrier, locals now have flight options out of the local airport.
In a Monday telephone interview, EGE Air Alliance Board Chair Peter Dann talked about what he’s most looking forward to about using the local airport.
“Going is no big deal, but coming home is great,” he said, especially when the drive home takes a few minutes, not a few hours.