Frontier Airlines ends Aspen service April 16

Frontier Airlines recently announced that it will end its Aspen service on April 16, 2012.

The end of Aspen service also means that 16 percent of the daily number of seats into Sardy Field will be curtailed resulting in costlier airfares.

The decision to stop Frontier flights has left Aspen tourism officials disappointed. Though, this decision was expected for quite some time following the company’s bankruptcy filing in 2008 and $120 million restructuring.

Earlier, Frontier Airlines had suffered a loss of $90 million in Q1 2011. Considering the losses being suffered, the airline has been trying to sell its four-plane fleet of Bombardier Q-400 turboprops flying into Aspen’s small airport for some months as part of cost-cutting measures.

Frontier Airlines, which has its main hub at Denver, has been operating four flights per day in and out of Sardy Field on the 74-seat Q-400, and one daily flight in the off-seasons.