Jeff Potter: Frontier chief reaches for the sky.

• Author: Bronikowski, Lynn
• Position: Executive Edge - Frontier Airlines - Brief Article

JEFF POTTER WILL NEVER FORGET APRIL 1, 2002 -- HIS FIRST DAY as chief executive officer of Frontier Airlines. He planned a surprise for his wife's 40th birthday and would attend former CEO Sam Addoms' retirement party that evening.

But before the day was over, Denver International Airport's second largest carrier was at the center of international newscasts when a Frontier aircraft taking off from Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport mistakenly flew in restricted airspace near the White House.

I was walking into the party when I was pulled aside and told what had happened," said Potter, 42, whose first reaction was to get assurances that everyone was safe. "Later I had the opportunity to sit with the pilots, talk to them, and once I heard all the various factors involved, you could understand how that happened. Besides, it wasn't the first time -- it just happened to happen while the reporters were on the air, so it was a big story."

Potter grew up in a family that reached for the sky. His father, Dale Potter, was an Air Force pilot who would share tales of helicopter pilots who evacuated the injured during the Vietnam War.

"He had tremendous courage -- a small-town boy flying helicopters in Vietnam," said Potter. "Yet he came home unaffected from all that he had seen and was the same old dad."

It was that same old dad who would later understand his son's decision to quit college in 1980 to clean airplanes in Spokane, Wash., for the original Frontier Airlines that flew a couple of daily flights out of Denver.

By May 1981, Potter was Spokane's station manager before heading to Oakland as a ticket agent and then poking around company headquarters in Denver where he discovered scheduling, pricing and route planning -- the heart of the airline industry.

"I love being around people but scheduling is where my heart was and I saw the growth potential," said Potter. "I had access to everything there and could really learn the industry.

In a 20-year span, his career would include stints at Pacific Southwest, Continental, Northwest airlines and McDonnell Douglas Corp. before he returned to the new Frontier Airlines in 1995 as vice president of marketing. In that time, he watched Frontier destinations grow from eight small Communities to 21 major cities.

He left Frontier in May 2000 to take the helm of Kansas City-based Vanguard Airlines but returned within a year.

"I like the culture and atmosphere at Frontier," said Potter. With Sam Addoms as...