It was deja vu all over again Monday as Frontier Airlines, the Denver-based carrier that once took many Utahns for their first-ever ride in an airplane, returned to Salt Lake City after an absence of nearly 10 years.
The new Frontier Airlines Flight 31 from Denver arrived at 10:17 a.m. at Gate A-3 of Terminal 1 in space sub-leased from American Airlines. Happily for Frontier, the inaugural flight was sold out. The return flight to Denver was scheduled to leave at 10:45 a.m.It was the first of a planned three flights per day, each way, between Salt Lake and Denver, said Bob Schulman, vice president of the new Frontier, which began flying again in July 1994, eight years after the original airline - known for serving passengers fine wine and steak-and-lobster dinners - declared bankruptcy and went out of business in 1986.
Schulman stressed that Frontier today is a new company even though it has the same name and was started by many former Frontier executives, including Schulman.
"Of the nine corporate officers, eight of them were old Frontier guys," he said.
The new Frontier no longer serves gourmet dinners on its flights, but Schulman said it's not just peanuts and 50-cent soft drinks, either.
"We offer some really nice snacks, bagels and such. More importantly, we have good leg room. There are only 108 all-coach seats on our B737-200s in a space that some airlines fill with as many as 128 seats, so there is plenty of room to stretch out."
Frontier passengers also may book advance seat assignments and earn mileage credits in Continental Airlines' OnePass frequent flyer program.
Also Monday, Frontier launched its inaugural service to Minneapolis. Earlier this month it began flying to Los Angeles and on Nov. 17 will begin flights to San Francisco. Frontier also flies to Chicago (Midway Airport), Omaha, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Albuquerque, El Paso, Bismarck and Fargo, N.D.
Schulman said Frontier has a variety of fares between Salt Lake and Denver, including an introductory fare of $49 that must be bought by Dec. 9 and is good for travel through Dec. 15; a 21-day advance purchase fare of $49; a 14-day advance purchase fare of $64; a seven-day advance of $129 and a "walk-up" fare of $199. All prices are one-way.
The airline plans two morning departures and one evening departure to Denver from Salt Lake Internatonal Airport.
The original Frontier Airlines had its roots in Utah when, in 1950, Challenger Airlines of Salt Lake City, Arizona Airways of Phoenix and Monarch Airlines of Denver merged into a single airline, which they named Frontier.
From 1950 to 1986, Frontier had a strong presence in Utah, carrying a total of 7.2 million passengers in and out of Salt Lake during those 36 years. Salt Lake also was home to a Frontier pilot and flight attendant center and reservations center, a total of some 200 employees.
In late 1985, Frontier was acquired by New Jersey-based People Express, one of the first cut-rate carriers. But Frontier couldn't make the transition from a full-service to a cut-rate airline, said Schulman, and People Express put it into bankruptcy.
The new Frontier was launched by taking advantage of what Schulman termed a "unique window of opportunity" when Continental Airlines began downsizing its Denver hub in 1993, eventually reducing its Denver flights from more than 150 to only 13 per day.
Today, the new Frontier Airlines has about 375 employees.