Southwest Airlines, Frontier Airlines to operate more flights out of Denver International Airport in 2010

Low-cost carriers Southwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines are adding flights and starting new destinations from Denver International Airport, in Denver, Colorado, the United States, in 2010.

Southwest Airlines, based in Dallas, Texas, the United States, has said it will add 13 daily flights in Denver, which is the carrier’s fastest-growing region.

At present, Southwest Airlines operates 112 daily flights in Denver. That will go up 127 daily flights –along with the non-stop services, announced earlier, to Boston (near Spokane, Washington) and Reno (Nevada), which will fly in January 2010 out of Denver International Airport.

When the number of daily flights goes up to 127, Southwest Airlines will be flying from Denver to 43 cities – thus making Denver International Airport the carrier’s 7^th largest airport of operations.

In a statement, Southwest Airlines said that, starting from March 2010, it will operate 6 new, once-a-day, non-stop roundtrip flights from Denver International Airport to the US cities of Hartford (Connecticut), Detroit, Ontario (California), Boise (Idaho), LaGuardia Airport in New York, and Dulles International Airport, located outside Washington, D.C.

While the flight from Denver to LaGuardia Airport in New York takes off in May 2010 and goes on sale in December 2009, the rest 5 flights will start in March 2010.

Southwest Airlines will operate 7 additional daily, non-stop flights to Oakland (California), Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Portland (Oregon), Sacramento (California), Tulsa (Oklahoma), and Seattle (Washington).

The flight to Oklahoma City will start in March 2010, and the other 6 services in May 2010.

Southwest Airlines had recently bought 2 more gates at Denver International Airport – taking the total number of its gates at the airport to 12.

The budget airline, which had withdrawn from the old airport in Denver many years ago, resumed flights to Denver in 2006, starting with 13 daily flights.

Southwest Airlines made a bid, in 2009, to buy the bankrupt budget carrier Frontier Airlines, but pulled out when it could not reach an agreement with the pilots union over merging crews of the two companies. Republic Airways Holdings, based in Indianapolis, the United States, bought Frontier Airlines.

Frontier Airlines, the budget carrier based in Denver, Colorado, the United States, has announced that it will introduce daily, non-stop service from Denver International Airport to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and to Louisville International Airport, in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2010.

Flights to Louisville will take off on April 19, 2010, and to New Orleans on June 15, 2010. Both flights are to be operated once a day, using Airbus A319 aircraft, Frontier Airlines said in a statement.

The Denver route will be the 25^th non-stop destination available at Louisville International Airport.

Frontier Airlines said it will launch the only non-stop service from Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City to Tampa International Airport and to Orlando International Airport.

The service to Orlando is to begin on January 15, 2010, and to Tampa on January 17, 2010 – both to be operated with Embraer 190 plane.