Frontier launches nonstop service from Denver to Bellingham

Wow, not only accesses Baker but also Whistler and the BC interior.  Whistler is 3 hours or so from Bellingham, and Sun Peaks is about 4.

Hmm...this route works both ways.  The Bellingham airport is closer to me than Sea Tac, so with half-decent rates I can forsee a trip to the front range in my future.  Good news!

Better yet, I just looked at the fares, about $240 RT.  

Kind of funny about the Bellingham airport; there aren't that many direct flight to anywhere, most flights connect through Sea-Tac on Alaska Airlines (though Honolulu is a direct flight).  Allegiant goes to Vegas, SF, LA, Phoenix Maui, Honolulu,  I think they figured those of us in the PNW need to get out of town to someplace sunny and warm.  Wherever would they get that idea? 

Direct flights between Bellingham and Denver will be awesome.   

Nice, they've got Southwest beat in that area.  They also go to Bozeman from Denver, handy for the Gathering.

Hate to burst your bubbles, but this is a summer only service for now.  There used to be a direct flight to SLC but it was dropped.

The flights out of B'ham are mostly for B.C. folks, but the Denver flight is different.  They were saying that it's about 80% WA residents and 20% Canadian.

Here's the article from the Bellingham Herald:

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/05/23/2534064/frontier-getting-strong-response.html

A quote:

While the service to Denver is only seasonal, it is an opportunity for Frontier to test the viability of this market, said Daniel Shurz, senior vice president of commercial operations for Frontier. So far, ticket sales have been strong, with about 80 percent of the bookings coming from Washington residents, with the other 20 percent Canadian. It's a much different trend compared to several other flights out of Bellingham, where the majority of tickets are bought by Canadian residents.

"If we see a good response, we'll analyze it again," said Shurz, when asked about the possibility of year-round service. "We would rather have a summer service that's successful first rather than starting year-round service."

Frontier has a history of jumping in and out of markets.   Plus the pilots shot themselves in the foot when they 86ed the acquisition by Southwest and went with Republic instead.

I give them two years tops,  before they go BK again.