Frontier Airlines expands Branson Airport service

Denver-based Frontier Airlines plans to run additional nonstop flights to Denver from Branson Airport during the market’s peak travel season, September–December.

A service provider in Branson since 2010, Frontier Airlines currently runs more than 77,000 seats through BKG, according to an airline news release. The fall flights represent nearly 40,000 seats, a 42 percent increase compared to the seating capacity to Denver International Airport the last four months of 2012, the release said.

BKG currently offers five nonstop destinations – DEN on Frontier Airlines and Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Orlando on Southwest Airlines, which began flying to Branson in March.

The additional Frontier flights will operate on 138-seat Airbus 319 aircraft – designed with five rows of “stretch” seating for another five to seven inches of legroom. A roundtrip ticket between DEN and BKG booked Sept. 20–22 was priced at $278.50, including taxes, at FlyFrontier.com.

Since opening in 2009, BKG has struggled financially and last year posted nearly $7 million in operating losses. Cumulatively, operations have lost the airport roughly $21 million, according to annual filings with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.