Springs flights start, but hangar plan stalls

Frontier Airlines has put plans on hold to build a 225-employee maintenance hangar at the Colorado Springs Airport while it assesses its operations as part of its bankruptcy filing last week, an executive from the carrier said Tuesday.

The bankruptcy didn't stop the Denver-based carrier from expanding service to the Springs on Tuesday with five daily flights to Denver. Those flights will offer connecting service to the other 58 cities on Frontier's schedule. The first flight here arrived early Tuesday and left about 9:40 a.m. about half-full.

Frontier's service here has been widely anticipated. Mayor Lionel Rivera pledged in his 2003 mayoral campaign to bring a lowfare airline to the city. He said at the time that Frontier's service and low fares would drive down airfares in the Springs.

Bookings on Frontier's flights for the first two months of flights from the Springs are "about as expected," said Frontier spokesman Steve Snyder. If consumers react positively to Frontier service, the carrier may add more local routes, he said.

Rivera called Frontier's expansion here "a terrific day for the city" during a news conference Tuesday. He also put in a plug for nonstop flights to Washington, D.C., to serve military personnel stationed locally.

Frontier said in November it would build a $55 million maintenance hangar at the Springs airport and begin flying between the Springs and Denver.

Now, the hangar is "one of the things we are continuing to assess as we are every aspect of our business," said Cliff Van Leuven, Frontier's vice president for customer service, who was in Colorado Springs on Tuesday.

Any decisions on the hangar will come "sooner than other" decisions because the carrier "understands the importance of this project," Snyder said. The carrier hasn't set a timetable for the hangar decision or for completing the rest of its review, he said.

Frontier sought U.S. Bankruptcy Court protection from its creditors Thursday.

It sought the protection to stop Greenwood Villagebased First Data Corp., which processes credit card transactions for the airline, from dramatically raising the amount of collateral it wanted the carrier to maintain for tickets bought with credit cards.

First Data would have to pay refunds to consumers if passengers bought tickets in advance for flights Frontier couldn't operate if it later ceased operations. The airline industry has been under increasing pressure because of the national economic slowdown and rising fuel prices; at least four other airlines have shut down in recent weeks.

At minimum, Frontier's bankruptcy filing will at least delay the hangar project because financing for it would require bankruptcy court approval, Snyder said.

Colorado Springs City Council members in January gave initial approval to issuing $55 million in tax-exempt bonds to finance construction of the hangar. Frontier will repay the bonds through lease payments it will make to the airport in the next 30 years on the hangar.

Airport officials have stopped work on the hangar lease because Frontier is no longer working on financing for the project, said Mark Earle, the city's aviation director. The lease is considered part of the bond documents and not a separate agreement, he said.

"The task before us now is to work with Frontier to make sure they have all the information they need to make a decision on the project, recognizing that this is a very difficult environment for Frontier and all of the other airlines right now," Earle said.

Securing financing for the hangar becomes "more difficult" with Frontier in bankruptcy and not making payments on more than $90 million in bonds it previously issued, Earle said.

Frontier is one of many carriers serving Colorado Springs that has filed for bankruptcy, and many emerged from such protection "stronger," Rivera said. "Hopefully, that will happen with Frontier. Hopefully, the hangar will be built here in Colorado Springs."

The carrier also said Tuesday that its stock will stop trading April 22 on the Nasdaq Stock Market as a result of the bankruptcy filing. The shares fell 2 cents to 78 cents in trading Tuesday. Bankruptcy typically wipes out stockholders in public companies.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0234 or wayneh@gazette.com

FRONTIER'S COLORADO SPRINGS FLIGHT SCHEDULE

The Denver-based carrier's Lynx Aviation Inc. subsidiary offers five daily flights between Colorado Springs and Denver on 74-seat Bombardier Q-400 turboprop aircraft.

- Departing flights: No. 3451 leaves the Springs at 7:05 a.m. and arrives in Denver at 7:50 a.m., No. 3453 leaves at 9:43 a.m. and arrives at 10:28 a.m., No. 3455 leaves at 12:38 p.m. and arrives at 1:22 p.m., No. 3457 leaves at 3:06 p.m. and arrives at 3:51 p.m. and No. 3459 leaves at 7:18 p.m. and arrives at 8:03 p.m.

- Arriving flights: No. 3452 leaves Denver at 8:35 a.m. and arrives in the Springs at 9:14 a.m., No. 3454 leaves at 11:30 a.m. and arrives at 12:09 p.m., No. 3456 leaves at 2:02 p.m. and arrives at 2:41 p.m., No. 3458 leaves at 6:05 p.m. and arrives at 6:44 p.m. and No. 3460 leaves at 9:45 p.m. and arrives at 10:24 p.m.

- Frontier is offering introductory one-way fares to 23 cities ranging from $113 to Aspen to $178 to Cancun, Mexico, for travel on off-peak days (generally Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays) bought at least 21 days in advance before 9:59 p.m. April 30.

- The Q-400 aircraft has a range of 1,500 miles and a cruising speed of 414 mph. The aircraft is configured with a single center aisle with two leather seats on each side with a satellite TV screen in each seat back.