Changing with the times: frontier flying service finds new ways to conduct business in the face of steep competition.

• Author: Maynard, Barbara
• Position: ALASKA BUSINESS MONTHLY'S 2006 TRANSPORTATION SECTION

As we waited for our flight out of Nome, Frontier employee Pat Eckroate tallied the passenger weights and yelled out to the baggage handlers that they might be able to take the mail after all. Grabbing earplugs on our way out the door, we walked across the tarmac and boarded the seven-seat Piper Navajo. This was the easiest flying experience I had had in a long time-we didn't even have to remove our shoes. Soon pilot Christian Clark climbed in through his window, gave the safety talk, and we took off for Golovin.

Clearly we were not flying the Frontier Airlines with the television ads featuring talking animals painted on the planes.

Based in Fairbanks, family owned Frontier Flying Service has almost 300 employees and serves more than 50 destinations in Alaska, with operations concentrated in the northern and western parts of the state. Their fleet includes eight Beechcraft 1900s, nine Piper Navajos, and two Beech 99s; a new 1900 will be put in service this summer.

Frontier Flying Service General Manager Craig Kenmonth said the business consists of roughly 70 percent passenger and light freight, 20 percent mail, and 10 percent charters.

BYPASS MAIL

The emphasis on passenger service has helped Frontier weather changes in the Alaska bypass mail system, which plays a big role for the state's air carriers. Created by Sen. Ted Stevens in the 1970s, the bypass mail system allows shippers to pay parcel post rates for sending goods on private air carriers, with the U.S. postal service picking up the difference in cost to the private carrier. The system was designed to solve two problems at once. The USPS would be able to meet its obligation to deliver mail to all U.S. residents, including Alaskans off the road system, while residents of rural villages would be provided with affordable transportation.

In the three decades since its inception, the bypass mail system has gotten the mail delivered, but costs to the USPS have been high and passenger service has not benefited as much as hoped for. In 2002, Stevens introduced the Rural Services Improvement Act, which gave more mail to those carriers that were carrying more passengers and required mail carriers to convert to a higher level of safety certification by 2008.

The higher level of safety certification, known as Part 121, addresses both passenger safety and costs to the USPS because Part 121 carriers fly larger planes, which are both safer and cheaper to operate per pound of mail, based on...