Frontier Expansion To Include Mini-Hub At LAX

Frontier Airlines next year will make Los Angeles its first focus city outside its Denver hub when the carrier on April 11 launches double daily nonstop service from Los Angeles International to Kansas City, Minneapolis/St. Paul and St. Louis. Frontier, which said Los Angeles is one of its most popular destinations, already serves the market with six daily nonstops to Denver.

"Today marks a critical and exciting juncture for Frontier Airlines, its employees and its loyal customers," said senior vice president of marketing Sean Menke. "We feel comfortable that we are now at a point that we can begin to fully leverage and utilize that asset as we begin to offer nonstop service outside of Denver to complement our hub schedule."

"As the second-largest local market in the country--as well as one of the least concentrated--the selection of LAX appears logical to us, though we would note the selection of Kansas City does put Frontier up against the industry's low-cost leader, Southwest," said J.P. Morgan Securities analyst Jamie Baker in a research note issued this morning.

Frontier's 2004 expansion plans also call for new nonstop routes from its Denver hub. For business travelers, the most notable will be double-daily nonstop service to Washington Dulles, effective May 9. Dulles, Frontier's 43rd destination from Denver, complements existing service to Baltimore/Washington International and Washington Reagan International and further challenges Denver rival United Airlines.

Considering the influx of new business markets into Frontier's schedule, more travel managers may consider the carrier as an alternative to United Airlines. Frontier is the only lower-cost carrier of significant size to negotiate discounts with corporate clients.