Frontier Airlines offering $29 fares to celebrate 30 years

Denver-based Frontier Airlines, having survived against the odds, will celebrate its 30th year in business by offering customers $29 one-way airfares on 100 routes, the company said Tuesday.

“We want to thank our customers for their loyalty as we celebrate our 30th birthday this year, and what better way to do so than by offering amazing fares to so many incredible destinations,” said Tyri Squyres, vice president of marketing, Frontier Airlines, in a news release.

The promotional fares will be available through 9:59 p.m. Mountain time on Thursday, June 27 for travel through Nov. 13 on a page Frontier has set up for the promotion. Blackout dates, including the July Fourth and Labor Day holidays, apply. The best days to travel to obtain the discounted fares are Monday through Thursday and Saturdays.

The cities with discounted airfares out of Denver include Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Mo., Chicago Midway, Milwaukee, Missoula, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, and Santa Ana, Calif.

Frontier Airlines will need to celebrate another 10 birthdays to match the longevity of the original Frontier, which launched in 1946 under the name Monarch Airlines. The original Frontier lasted until 1986 when it succumbed to intense competition from larger carriers United and Continental at Stapleton International Airport.

People Express Airline acquired Frontier and flew it under its original name, but the original Frontier sought bankruptcy protection in September 1986.

In the years that followed, Continental Airlines began cutting back its service in Denver. Rick Brown, a former United Airlines pilot, his wife Janice, Bob Schulman and former Frontier executives M. C. “Hank” Lund and Sam Adams saw an opportunity for a low-cost carrier to come into the market.

The new Frontier began flying again on July 5, 1994, and it has had its ups and downs.

The airline gained a following with its discounted fares, but struggled after Southwest Airlines entered the Denver market and it filed for bankruptcy in 2006. It restructured a second time in 2008 after First Data, its credit card processor, decided to withhold the proceeds from all credit card sales.

Republic Airways purchased the carrier out of bankruptcy for $109 million and rebuilt it as an ultra-low-cost category. The airline’s holding company was spun off as a public company in 2021.

Frontier operates 134 A320 aircraft, one of the most fuel-efficient fleets in the U.S., and has another 210 Airbus planes on order, a sign that it expects more growth going forward.

It is the third largest airline operating at Denver International Airport behind United Airlines and Southwest and the largest carrier based in Colorado.