More than 50 political and civic leaders came out to Santa Barbara Airport on June 4 for the inaugural Frontier Airlines flight from Santa Barbara to Denver.

The daily flights give United Airlines its first competition in decades for the nonstop Denver route. Frontier will make the trip with 99-seat Embraer jets, the biggest jets in use in the Tri-Counties.

”Frontier gives us another option to leave out of Santa Barbara," Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider said. “There’s no excuse. Just don’t go to LAX."

The Frontier flights were five years in the making. Airport officials said the timing was excellent, as American Airlines recently canceled its nonstop service to Dallas-Fort Worth. Frontier, a subsidiary of Republic Airways, offers connections to 72 airports from Denver.

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