First Frontier Airlines flight from Denver arrives in Eagle County with cookies, swag and union pilots threatening to strike
Connectivity from airline's hub expected to drive passenger loads
Vail Daily

Scott Miller/Vail Daily
Eagle Resident Missy Kraft had never flown out of the Eagle County Regional Airport before Monday. But she had her bag packed and was ready to fly Frontier Airlines to Denver.
Kraft was ready to catch the 40-ish-minute flight to Denver so she could catch another Frontier flight to Arizona, where her daughter is ready to give birth to twins.
Frontier Airlines is flying into the Eagle County Regional Airport from Denver, Dallas and San Francisco. For more information, go to FlyFrontier.com or FlyEGE.com.
“It’s kind of a last-minute flight,” Kraft said. “It’s amazing,” she said of the flight. “It’s saved me a whole day. I was able to work earlier. I didn’t have to drive to Denver.”
While Kraft was waiting for the outbound flight on the Frontier Airbus A320, the inbound flight had 62 passengers, most of whom connected from other destinations and then caught a flight to Eagle County. Those inbound passengers were greeted with cookies, cupcakes and various little gifts, ranging from sunglasses to beer koozies.
Eagle County assistant aviation director Josh Miller said the connectivity out of Denver — a major hub for Frontier — is a big part of the appeal for that particular flight. While the Dallas flight could grow just from that population center, connectivity from Denver could lead to better passenger loads, Miller said.

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And Frontier is offering plenty of deals, too. Chatting while waiting for the flight from Denver to arrive, Eagle County Manager Jeff Shroll noted that the airline has been running deals on social media, with flights to Dallas as low as $39.
Frontier Airlines union members greet inaugural flight
The Denver flight was actually the second Frontier flight of the day to arrive in Eagle County.
The first — flight 3906 — into the low-cost carrier’s new base at the county airport was greeted by the Frontier Strike Bus, which rolled into Gypsum on Monday.
While the Frontier pilots who rode the Strike Bus into Eagle on Monday said they’re glad to see the company expanding into Eagle County, they said it’s frustrating to see it happen amid the intense contract negotiations that have yet to be worked out.
“As we continue to open bases, there’s a lot of positives that come from that, but there’s a huge toll on the pilots,” said Jason DuVernay, a captain with Frontier. “They may move and relocate — like many of our pilots did to Chicago two years ago — and then without warning that base closes. Now those pilots have to relocate to Tampa, Cincinnati, Cleveland or other places, or choose to commute to those locations for an extended period of time without the certainty of that base remaining open.”
“We are excited, always, to see growth,” DuVernay added. “But we worry about the company’s commitment to the pilots and their ability to maintain and develop their relationships within the community as well as their commitments to their families.”
In January, a contract with pilots from 2018 became amendable, meaning it essentially expired, and a new contract has not yet been worked out.
DuVernay said to pre-empt the expiration of the 2018 contract, the Frontier pilots who are members of the Air Line Pilots Association started early negotiations with the company in July of 2023, to have a contract in place by January. They’re seeking improvements in four areas — job security, retirement, quality of life and compensation.
“We’re approximately 49 percent behind the rest of the industry in terms of pay and benefits,” DuVernay said.
With no contract in place in January, the pilots requested and were granted mediation from the National Mediation Board in February, and have been under mediated negotiations ever since.
“There’s been basically no movement at the negotiating table, because the company has just been delaying,” said Alan Christie, a Frontier pilot who lives in Avon. “One of the pressure points that the pilots can apply is a strike.”
But Christie and DuVernay said they don’t want to exercise that option if it can be avoided.
“Our goal is not to go on strike, our goal is to get a contract,” he said. “Strikes are very disruptive to the pilot group, to the families, to management, and especially to our customers, and the last thing we want to do is put our customers out.”
Nevertheless, virtually all the Frontier pilot members of the Air Line Pilots Association are in favor of the strike option, if that’s what it takes. The pilots started discussing the possibility of a strike in August and held a strike vote in October.

At that time, the pilots were just coming off a disaster relief project following the devastating toll hurricanes Helene and Milton had taken on the Southeastern United States. They had outfitted a large RV to be mobilized from Denver to Tampa, Florida, to help out individual pilots and partner with churches and organizations to provide relief. The strike authorization vote went through as that effort was happening, so after wrapping up the work in Florida, the RV was converted into the Strike Bus, with a new mission.
Alaska Airlines on deck next
Frontier is one of two low-cost carriers that this year have announced service to Eagle County. Frontier’s Oct. 1 announcement followed the July 9 announcement that Alaska Airlines would begin winter service into Eagle County.
Frontier is coming to Eagle County without “minimum flight guarantees,” which backstop airlines against losses if flights don’t have enough passengers to be profitable. The Alaska flights required those guarantees.
The first Alaska Airlines flight arrives Friday.