Changing Hubs and The Declining Years
In 1989 Denver announced that Denver International Airport would replace Stapleton International Airport. Since the airport was self-funded it would charge higher-than-normal landing fees to pay back the bonds. Denver International Airport was also twice as far from Denver as Stapleton International Airport. Shortly before the opening of the Airport Continental Airlines withdrew their Denver hub, leaving Denver as a hub for only one carrier, United Airlines, whereas Stapleton had usually been the hub for two or three separate carriers.
There was a considerable move to look for secondary airports that could serve a hub taking Continental's place in the region without the high landing fees of Denver International Airport. Centennial Airport in Denver, Jeffco Airport in Broomfield and Colorado Springs Airport all were considered for alternate service.
While Western Pacific's Colorado Springs Airport hub had initially been successful in expanding to meet the demand and starting to siphon traffic away from Denver International Airport, by 1997 the carrier still had not made a profit in its two years of operation. However, Colorado Springs Airport is situated to the South of Colorado Springs (Denver is to the North) limiting its appeal to front range travelers. Therefore executives decided to move the hub from Colorado Springs to Denver International Airport in 1997.
A day after the move was complete, Western Pacific announced that it would "purchase" Denver rival Frontier Airlines which had acquired Continental's former gates and operated out of Denver International Airport. The two carriers would also immediately start a code share and Frontier's schedule was to be secondary to Western Pacific's schedule. Western Pacific put a permanent hold on plans to expand their Colorado Springs hub.
The merger started but after Frontier Airlines received access to Western Pacific's financial records as a part of Due Diligence, Frontier and their bankers pulled out and the merger was abruptly canceled, leading to Western Pacific's Bankruptcy and almost destroying Frontier in the process.
Western Pacific declared Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in February 1998. Frontier Airlines survived and currently has a fleet around twice the size of the proposed combined airlines.
Read more about this topic: Western Pacific Airlines
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