NorthIowaToday.com

Founded in 2010

News & Entertainment for Mason City, Clear Lake & the Entire North Iowa Region

Cedar Rapids lands low-cost carrier with Frontier flights to Denver

George C. Ford, CR Gazette –

CEDAR RAPIDS — Eastern Iowa travelers will soon have a low-cost alternative for flights from Cedar Rapids to Denver, Los Angeles and other western destinations.

The Eastern Iowa Airport on Thursday announced that Frontier Airlines will launch nonstop service between Cedar Rapids and its Denver hub on May 17. Introductory fares will begin at $60 each way, plus the usual fees and taxes.

Airport Director Tim Bradshaw said Frontier will initially offer four weekly flights, with the possibility of additional flights depending on demand.

“Landing Frontier is really good for us, especially since AirTran has left the Quad City International Airport in Moline,” Bradshaw said. “Frontier will provide a low-cost alternative for passengers traveling to Denver and western destinations such as Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego and beyond.

“A lot of our top destinations are on the West Coast and Los Angeles is one of our top markets. This helps companies like Rockwell Collins, which has business with Boeing in Seattle.”

Frontier flights are scheduled for Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, departing from Denver at 3:10 p.m., and arriving in Cedar Rapids at 5:59 p.m.; and departing from Cedar Rapids at 6:35 p.m. and arriving in Denver at 7:43 p.m. With the new flights, Eastern Iowa Airport passengers will have 27 nonstop flights to Denver each week.

The introductory fares of $60 each way are available at FrontierAirlines.com through Feb. 29, for travel through mid- to late June, depending on the market. The new flights are only available on the airline’s website (www.frontierairlinescom and through its reservations centers. They will be sold through other ticketing channels beginning this weekend.

Bradshaw said the airport has been talking with Frontier representatives for some time, working to bring the low-cost carrier to the community.

“Originally we were looking at Frontier offering service to Milwaukee, but they are pulling out of that market to concentrate more on Denver,” Bradshaw said. “If you look at Frontiers route map, they’ve been adding quite a few cities and destinations, including some in Mexico. They also serve several cities on the East Coast, but a lot of people don’t like the idea of flying west to go east.”

Joshua Schamberger, the first Johnson County member of the Cedar Rapids Airport Commission, said Frontier Airlines is an exceptional carrier that will bring terrific service and much more competitive airfares for both inbound and outbound travelers.

“This announcement truly marks another monumental day for The Eastern Iowa Airport and a day, quite honestly, I was most interested in seeing realized when I joined the commission,” said Schamberger, president of the Iowa CityCoralville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. ”Visitors coming here for business, conferences, sporting events or general leisure are smiling from this news, as are local travelers looking to make a trip out west.”

Frintier will provide the Denver flights on 99-seat Embraer 190 aircraft. The aircraft features ”stretch” seating with an additional five to seven inches of legroom on every flight.

As with any airline service, Bradshaw said it will be important for Eastern Iowa air travelers to use the new low-cost alternative when traveling west.

“It’s now up to everyone to patronize this new service and that could lead to more service down the road,” he said. “We also hope that it will bring some competitive airfares.”

A study of the impact of Frontier Airlines entering the Knoxville, Tenn., market showed significant lowering of airfares along competitive routes.

The study, commissioned by the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority and the East Tennesseans for Airfare Competition, showed that travelers making reservations seven days or less from departure have seen savings ranging from $198 to $707. The price range of tickets has gone from $561-$996 each way to $289-$363 each way, a drop of about two-thirds.

Before Frontier’s entry, all but one of the nonstop fares to Denver was above $300 one way, according to the study, noting that the only fare below $300 was a 30-day advance purchase fare at $277.50 one way. In November, except one fare at $363, all Knoxville-to-Denver fares were below $300, the report concluded.

During the last three years, the Eastern Iowa Airport regained Delta Airlines service to Atlanta and added Continental Airlines service to Houston. The Frontier service brings the total number of airlines serving The Eastern Iowa Airport to six.

With the addition of Frontier, The Eastern Iowa Airport will offer service to 11 nonstop destinations — more than any other airport in Eastern Iowa or western Illinous — including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, Orlando-Sanford, Fla.; Tampa, Fla.; St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.; and Phoenix-Mesa.

Last month, Southwest Airlines announced that it will eventually serve Des Moines International Airport as it converts AirTran Airways operations at 22 domestic and international airports to Southwest operations.

The Eastern Iowa Airport recently received a “leakage” report from a consultant showing the number of air travelers from the area that drove to Chicago, Des Moines and the Quad Cities for flights, rather than flying from Cedar Rapids. Lower airfares typically were cited as the reason for using the other airports.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Even more news:

Watercooler

Need help with your website?
Call your local professional,
Breakthrough Web Design:
515-897-1144
or go to
BreakthroughWebDesign.com

Copyright 2024 – Internet Marketing Pros. of Iowa, Inc.
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x