Much Ado About Nothing, Revisited

A Frontier Airlines Airbus A318, departing from Orange County Airport in Southern California enroute to Denver Colorado, is the latest focus of a cable-news/media frenzy.

The A318 informed ATC, shortly after departure, that they were getting cockpit indications of an unsafe/open cargo door and decided to make a precautionary landing in order to check the matter out. Since the A318 is unable to dump fuel, per se, the situation was dragged out long enough for various cable networks to build up some semblance of suspense and start pulling some interviews with the usual allegedly aero-knowledgeable suspects. Thankfully, an FAA spokesman brought some sanity to the matter by downplaying the emergency nature of the event despite being goaded by media questions, while the aircraft made a pretty uneventful landing at LAX just a few moments later.

The aircraft involved was Frontier flight #263, carrying 114 people and maintained cabin pressure throughout the event. It is currently unknown yet whether the indication was the result of an improperly closed door or a faulty annunciator.

Frontier Airlines has a fleet of 44 aircraft and went “all-Airbus” in the spring of this year. Frontier began the transition from a Boeing fleet of 737-300 and 737-200 aircraft when it announced on October 19, 1999 that it had signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to purchase 11 new Airbus aircraft, with options for an additional nine. On November 4, 1999, Frontier further cemented its decision to transform its fleet to a single aircraft type when it announced it had signed an LOI for an additional 15 leased A319 aircraft.

On August 21, 2003, the airline announced its largest order to date – 29 A319 and A318 aircraft. The airline received its first Airbus A319 in June 2001 and when all orders are completed in 2008, Frontier’s fleet will consist of 62 Airbus A319 and A318 aircraft.

FMI: www.frontierairlines.com