Frontier to launch Vancouver to Denver service
It will be the first low-cost U.S. airline to serve Vancouver when it begins its new service in May
Bruce Constantineau, Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Frontier Airlines will become the first low-cost U.S. airline to serve Vancouver next year when it launches a year-round, daily non-stop service between Vancouver and Denver.
Vancouver International Airport officials hope the move encourages other major discount U.S. carriers such as Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways to follow suit.
Denver-based Frontier announced Tuesday it will begin its new Vancouver service on May 5 with a 132-passenger Airbus A319 aircraft, about a year after entering the Canadian market this year with a Calgary-Denver service that uses a 70-passenger Bombardier CRJ-700.
"We feel there's a tremendous cross-seasonal opportunity in Vancouver," Frontier official Joe Hodas said in an interview.
"We can leverage the huge Vancouver-Alaska cruise ship traffic and in the winter, there's still a great draw between Denver and Vancouver."
More than 80 per cent of the one million annual Vancouver-Alaska cruise passengers are Americans, so Frontier's summer schedule will focus on serving that market.
Hodas said the winter schedule will change for the convenience of Vancouver passengers who want to connect with Denver flights bound for Mexican destinations such as Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Guadalajara.
"We will come in and offer lower fares and a better product in that market," he said, noting the A319 has 84 cm of leg room and a choice of 24 live TV channels or three pay-per-view movies in every seatback.
Hodas feels other low-cost U.S. carriers have not yet tested the Canadian market due to "barriers to entry" such as different regulatory and banking issues that come into effect when flying outside the U.S.
"With Vancouver being our second Canadian market, things should go a little easier because we learned our lessons the first time around," he said. "We think there's plenty of potential left for us [in other Canadian markets], but there's nothing imminent right now."
The Calgary service is operated through a partnership with Horizon Air, which is branded as Frontier Jet Express. Hodas said the new Vancouver service will be a "mainline" Frontier aircraft.
Frontier will offer introductory fares as low as $218 US, excluding fees and taxes, for a Vancouver-to-Denver round trip. United Airlines is the only airline currently offering a direct daily flight between Vancouver and Denver, although Air Canada has a codeshare agreement on that service.
Frontier Airlines, which began operations in 1994, serves 49 destinations with a fleet of 55 aircraft. The company posted a $14-million US loss last year on revenues of $994.3 million US.
Vancouver International Airport Authority chief financial officer Tony Gugliotta said Frontier's decision to fly to Vancouver is significant, and the airport will do whatever it can to attract other large discount U.S. carriers. He said he met with senior Southwest Airlines officials in Texas last year to discuss that airline's chances of coming to Vancouver.
"Right now, they feel they have enough expansion opportunities within the U.S.," he said. "But I think they have tentative plans to extend their routes to international destinations within three years. They are very interested in Canada and they are very interested in Vancouver. But there are no hard commitments about whether they'd come to Vancouver first."
Calgary-based airline industry analyst Rick Erickson doubts that Frontier's move to the Canadian market will blaze the trail for bigger U.S. discount airlines, noting Canada has only attracted a few "nibbles" from those carriers since an open skies deal with the U.S. came into effect in 1995.
"Our Canadian carriers are pretty aggressive in the U.S. marketplace on price so the low-cost guys don't really hold a terrific advantage," he said in an interview. "We also have higher taxes and fees in Canada because of the nature of our economy, and the U.S. carriers can find that difficult."
Erickson welcomed Frontier's expanded service in Canada but doubts it will provide a huge benefit to consumers.
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© The Vancouver Sun 2006
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