Congratulations, Frontier, and welcome to Rapid City

By Journal Editorial Board | Saturday, October 06, 2007

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Airline passengers traveling to and from Rapid City have much to celebrate today with the arrival of the first Frontier Airlines flight to Rapid City at 9:30 a.m.

The low-fare, Denver-based carrier added twice-daily flights to its hub at Denver International Airport from Rapid City, and that is good economic news for air travelers who have paid high-priced fares out of Rapid City for far too long now.

The public is invited to an open house at the Rapid City airport for the launch of Frontier Airlines that begins at 8:30 a.m. this morning. During the event, parking will be free at the airport terminal lots for visitors that get their parking stubs validated at the Frontier counter.

With Frontier in the Rapid City market, ticket prices here fell by as much as 50 percent to some destinations as other airlines matched Frontier’s prices. And with gasoline at $3 per gallon, a $200 round trip ticket to Denver sounds wonderful to us. We love a little good old-fashioned price competition in an industry that recently has been much better known for government regulation and bailouts at taxpayer expense.

Frontier has something to celebrate today, too — a full airplane departing Rapid City on a 10:30 a.m. flight to Denver. We congratulate Frontier on today’s launch and wish them many more paying passengers that add up to years of success in the Rapid City market..

Frontier prides itself on discount fares that are among the lowest in the business. Its fleet of 60 airplanes flies to 60 destinations, including 51 cities in the U.S., eight cities in Mexico and two in Canada. It has an average of 250 departures and arrivals daily at DIA.

Two of those Frontier planes will be arriving in Denver today from Rapid City, and we couldn’t be happier about that.