Subsidiary Kicked Off Inaugural Service Last Friday

Following a difficult gestation process, Frontier Airlines proudly delivered its new Lynx subsidiary to the world last week.

Flying 10 Bombardier Q400 turboprops bearing images of a baby lynx kitten, a wolf puppy, and a mountain lion cub -- among others -- on their vertical stabs, Lynx first took to the skies on Friday, December 7, with an inaugural flight to Billings, MT from Denver. The wholly-owned subsidiary of Frontier Airlines Holdings, Inc. will serve destinations within a 750-mile radius of its Denver hub.

"People have been asking if this is the right time to start a project like this," said Sean Menke, Frontier President and CEO. "To me, it's the perfect time. We can move into markets with less competition and have more opportunity to feed connecting traffic through our hub -- all with a very fuel-efficient aircraft that burns 30 percent less fuel than a comparably sized regional jet (RJ). We believe Lynx will be a critical component as we focus on the long-term profitability of this Company."

"Starting a new airline is certainly a challenging process, but from the beginning we knew we would be successful because we had the support of Frontier and the tremendous employees at Lynx," said Tom Nunn, President of Lynx Aviation. "The first flight to Billings was a great moment for all of us. We look forward to contributing to the future success of Frontier and we are eager to show Frontier's customers that the Frontier experience is alive and well with the new Lynx Q400."

As ANN reported, Lynx was originally planned to launch service October 1 of this year... but delays in attaining FAA certification pushed that date back, as did a series of landing incidents involving Q400s flying for Scandinavian Airlines.

As it awaited the formal go-ahead, Frontier honored Lynx tickets by flying CRJ700s and Airbus A319s from its mainline fleet.

FMI: www.frontierairlines.com