HUNTSVILLE — Denver, Colorado-based Frontier Airlines joined Huntsville International Airport Oct. 5 to offer flights between Huntsville and Denver International Airport. The airline held a ribbon cutting and celebration that morning at Gate 9 for the first passengers to arrive and depart from Huntsville on a Frontier airplane.

As arriving passengers enjoyed refreshments and those departing received commemorative stickers for the inaugural flight, representatives shared a few words on what Frontier’s addition to the airport means for the Tennessee Valley.

Rick Tucker, executive director of Huntsville International Airport, said the airport’s business development team had been working since about 2005 to bring Frontier to Huntsville.

“Today’s that first day,” Tucker said at the event. “We have people who perceive us as having high fares, and in reality, that’s the case sometimes, but that perception and that reality is changing today with Frontier being in our community, and I can’t tell you how excited we are.”

Frontier Airlines has a reputation for being an “ultra-low-cost” carrier. According to Jonathan Freed, director of corporate communications at Frontier, this is due in large part to Frontier passengers’ ability to customize their travel experience. This includes choosing or relinquishing seating preferences, deciding how many bags to check and more. Freed said this makes it easier to find low-cost tickets at the last minute.

“We make it possible for more people to fly and for people to fly more often,” Freed said. “What we’re about is trying to encourage folks who maybe have never even been on a commercial airplane before to give it a shot. It’s possible that they were just not able to afford it.”

Madison County Commission Chairman Dale Strong welcomed Frontier to “the propulsion capital of the world.”

“[The Huntsville International Airport team has] worked for a long time to make this happen, and the people of our community are the people that will benefit from it,” Strong said.

Tucker spoke of a passenger from Decatur who had just arrived on the first Frontier flight to Huntsville from Denver.

“She’s lived in the Denver area for 10 years, and she hasn’t been able to afford flying back home very often, and now, she’s going to be able to do that, and she was so excited about it,” Tucker recalled.

The inaugural Frontier flight out of Huntsville is one of Frontier’s 200 new Airbus A320-family airplanes, according to Freed. Tucker said the inaugural flight from Huntsville to Denver is personally important to him, as his wife and grandson were passengers on the airplane.

“I can tell you they paid a really, really low price last minute—that’s always a good thing,” Tucker said.

In a few short weeks, Frontier will also offer flights between Huntsville and Orlando, Florida, beginning Oct. 21. Freed noted that full planes will encourage Frontier Airlines to offer even more destinations and increase flight frequency.

Frontier Airlines serves more than 100 cities in the United States, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. The first flight arrived from Denver at approximately 10:40 a.m., and the first flight out departed at noon. As of the service start date, Denver Frontier flights will service Huntsville on Mondays and Fridays. Orlando flights will be Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

For more information, check FlyFrontier.com.