Frontier makes 12-year affiliate deal with Horizon
Airline's new partner will serve more cities
By David Kesmodel, Rocky Mountain News
September 19, 2003
Frontier Airlines tapped Horizon Air as its new regional-jet affiliate, saying that Horizon will fly more planes and serve more cities than the current affiliate, Mesa Airlines.
Seattle-based Horizon - the regional feeder for Frontier foe Alaska Airlines - will replace Mesa on Jan. 1 under a 12-year deal.
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Terms were not disclosed, but Denver-based Frontier said it will pay Horizon a base margin and performance- based incentives.
Horizon initially will operate four 70-seat Bombardier CRJ-700 jets under the Frontier JetExpress flag. It will fly nine of the planes by May 30.
Mesa operates five 50-seat Bombardier CRJ-200 planes for Frontier JetExpress flights from Denver to Albuquerque; Omaha; Oklahoma City; Wichita, Kan.; Tucson; and San Jose and Ontario, Calif.
Frontier hasn't finalized markets that Horizon will serve. But Sean Menke, Frontier's vice president of marketing, said Boise, Idaho, and at least five of the seven Mesa destinations likely will be served. Eventually, Horizon will serve new markets in the Midwest and West, he said.
Frontier and Mesa previously said their alliance would end Dec. 31 due to Mesa's new, exclusive partnership with United.
"There's a glut of regional jets out there," so Frontier had a lot of options for a new provider, said Mike Boyd, a consultant in Evergreen.
Horizon is "a good operator," and the deal will help Frontier expand, he said, "but remember, (regional jets) aren't very comfortable."
Horizon and Alaska are owned by Alaska Air Group Inc. Frontier JetExpress will mark Horizon's first contract flying for another carrier.
Horizon used to compete with Frontier on flights from Denver to Boise and Denver to Portland, Ore. Alaska assumed the Portland service in June and also flies Denver-Seattle.
Frontier expects Horizon to provide more reliable service than Mesa has, Menke said. From its start in February 2002, the Frontier-Mesa relationship was plagued by operational problems.
"We were very frustrated with the performance," Menke said.
The Horizon deal, like the Mesa pact, includes financial incentives if the operator meets certain targets for on-time arrivals and departures.
"The challenge is to operate as well as Frontier (mainline) is now," said Rudi Schmidt, Horizon's vice president of finance. "We think we can do it."
Among the differences under the new deal is that Frontier will feature its painted wildlife on the tails of the Horizon jets.
Horizon expects to base about 100 pilots, 100 flight attendants and 30 maintenance workers in Denver.
