First Step: Frontier introduces $49 St Augustine airfare

Northeast Florida Regional Airport at St Augustine announced the first step in their plans to reintroduce commercial air travel to the local airport during a press conference attended by Historic City News and representatives from television, radio, and other area media this afternoon.

The commercial terminal facilities constructed to accommodate Skybus, the last low-fare carrier in St Augustine, have been dark since they ceased all operations effective Saturday, April 5, 2008.

But today, a standing ovation was given to Robert Westgate, Senior Director of Airline Planning, Scheduling and Charters, as he laid out the plans to begin non-stop service between Trenton-Mercer Airport, in Ewing, New Jersey, and Northeast Florida Regional Airport in St Augustine, beginning May 2, 2014.

Seats on the Frontier flights to and from Trenton/Princeton are being offered as low as $49 each way, with conditions, through February 8, 2014. Passengers may expect to travel on 138-seat, Airbus 319 aircraft; which offer many amenities, including five rows of comfortable stretch seating with an additional six inches of legroom, and the airline’s SELECT seating product.

This week, Historic City News learned that a professional group of airline managers acquired the intellectual property of Eastern Air Lines to develop a new business plan and financing plan to re-launch the long-time Florida based airline from their headquarters in Miami. Robert Cox, Chairman of the St Augustine – St Johns County Airport Authority, told Historic City News editor Michael Gold this morning that Northeast Florida Regional Airport would welcome any interest a newly-chartered Eastern Air Lines could bring to town.

Cox, who was a commercial airline pilot, said that he had experience with other startups, like Skybus. He understood the economic pressures to which they succumbed. Frontier Airlines, on the other hand, has been in business for twenty-years.

“We are delighted that Frontier Airlines has chosen to begin nonstop service from Trenton to Northeast Florida Regional Airport,” Cox said. “Frontier is an ideal match for our airport and our community.”

Last month, on Tuesday, December 3rd, the Denver-based Frontier Airlines officially gained a new owner. Indigo Partners LLC, through an affiliate, completed the purchase of the carrier from Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings that afternoon, according to local reports in Denver. Although the terms of the transaction were not disclosed, the sale agreement announced last September outlined a price tag of $145 million — $36 million of which was to be cash and the remainder to be assumed debt.

The low-cost, low-hassle alternative to the existing nearby commercial airports, anticipates more positive changes for its passengers as the new owners continue transforming Frontier into an “ultra-low-cost” carrier.

The company guarantees their lowest fares online, booked directly from their website at FlyFrontier.com