Mar. 3--Frontier Airlines is expected to announce today that its first foray into Canada will be daily flights between Denver and Calgary, Alberta, starting May 25.
Frontier will compete with United Airlines on the route. United has four daily flights from Denver to Calgary.
"Our relationship with the Canadian energy and real-estate interests stretch back to the '80s," said Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. executive vice president Tom Clark. "There's a lot of swapping of technologies and people between the two markets." Frontier is expected to announce that it will have two daily departures from Denver to Calgary.
"There's a lot of money in Calgary, and a lot of investors, and a lot of people that are looking for new opportunities and new markets," much like Denver, said Clark Grue, vice president of economic development and trade development for Calgary Economic Development. "When you cross-breed those two together, it's going to be an economic boost for both cities."
Benchmark Co. analyst Helane Becker said Frontier is "very good at trying new things and, if it doesn't work, pulling in their horns very rapidly." Frontier and Canadian carrier WestJet separately plan to consider code-share marketing alliances. Such alliances allow passengers to connect to another airline.
A partnership between the two would be "probably a good one," Becker said.
United already has a code-share partnership with Air Canada.
