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Frontier Airlines Brings New Summer Flights

By Ashlie Rodriguez

Story Created: Feb 9, 2012 at 7:22 PM MDT

Story Updated: Feb 9, 2012 at 7:35 PM MDT

Brenda Clark is from Geraldine, Montana which is about an hour from Great Falls and three hours from Billings.

So which airport does she fly out of?

"Billings," she said, "just because the airfare's cheaper."

Alan Hansen is from Left Bridge, Canada and flying out of Great Falls isn't always his first choice.

"Where I live is exactly between Calgary and Great Falls, so it comes down to costs," Hansen said.

But today, the Great Falls Airport Authority says that's all going to change.

"Frontier Airlines has agreed to serve Great Falls with new low cost flights starting on May 14th," Great Falls International Airport Director John Faulkner said.

This summer, Frontier Airlines will have low-cost airfare, flying to Denver, Colorado and back for a starting cost of $160.

"We have some of the highest airfares in the country and they could appreciate that and they have some of the lowest airfares amongst airlines and we can appreciate that," Faulkner said.

Getting Frontier Airlines to fly out of Great Falls was no easy task though. It took over a year of meetings and about $75,000 in investments by business owners across the region.


"It was a cooperative thing," said the Airport Authority Acting Chairman Jim Morin. "We had to get the community behind us, the Chamber, the Airport Authority, as well as try to understand what was important to the airlines."

Business owners were willing to put up money for the airline because lower airfares mean cheaper business trips and more tourists, both of which will raise revenue.

"Part of the problem they are having in terms of growth or new businesses coming here," said Steve Malicott of the Great Falls Chamber of Commerce, "was the difficulty to get in and out of Great Falls and the expense of coming in and out of Great Falls. It was just very expensive. So it was critical to us to get those prices down with a low cost air carrier. Frontier offered that opportunity for us."

Frontier is already selling tickets for flight to and from Great Falls, which is good news for Brenda.

"An hour's drive to Great Falls as opposed to three from Billings --- I would definitely fly out of Great Falls more often," she said.

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