Frontier Steamboat flights are getting closer

Steamboat is getting closer to a deal for Year Round flight service from Frontier Airlines. This has been coming together for nearly a year now and I have heard of 2 Frontier pilots that have bought property here in anticipation of this service. Hopefully they are right. The increased competition will be great for the availability and cost of flights for locals and guests year round.

Selected quotes from the Steamboat Pilot:"Such a flight will bring airline competition between Steamboat and Denver, which should benefit pricing and expand connecting options for Yampa Valley residents. It also would continue an unprecedented string of successes for the airport and air service in general.

Frontier officials would only say the next round of announcements is expected to include some Colorado mountain communities. A newspaper in Sun Valley, Idaho — which was vying for Frontier service — reported those communities would be Colorado Springs, Aspen and Steamboat. The flights would be daily on the Q400, a new 70- to 78-seat propjet from Bombardier. Frontier would add the new service sometime this fall

The Frontier service would compete with United, which provides four flights per day on 37-seat turboprops operated by Skywest. United adds a jet flight to DIA during the ski season. Frontier’s competition with United out of the Denver hub has resulted in significant price breaks for travelers on both airlines. Seeing that competition expand into markets like the Yampa Valley would be a win for tourists and locals.

The addition of Frontier service would be on top of what already is expected to be the biggest winter in the airport’s history, with five airlines serving 10 markets and an estimated 175,000 available seats. For the first time, YVRA will have service to all three airports serving the New York metro area. Not that long ago, Yampa Valley Regional Airport was a small, crowded airport with a dirt parking lot and mostly seasonal service. How things have changed. The facility, once second rate, is in a different league thanks to a three-phase expansion that included a new terminal, a new parking system, a new apron to accommodate larger jets, new passenger waiting areas, new ticket counters and new retail stores. As the facility has grown, so has service. With Frontier, YVRA would have year-round service on three airlines serving two markets. For the Full Story in the Steamboat Pilot click here

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