Frontier Airlines planes are at the gates of A Concourse at Denver International Airport in Denver.
David Zalubowski | AP
Frontier Airlines filed for an IPO on Monday, a second attempt to go public as the industry positions itself for a recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The airline is owned by private equity firm Indigo Partners, whose managing partner is airline industry veteran and low-cost pioneer Bill Franke, president of Frontier Airlines.
Airlines are gearing up for a recovery in travel demand, after passenger levels in the U.S. dropped more than 60% last year, to the lowest level since 1984.
Low-cost airlines with models similar to Frontier’s are among the most optimistic about recovery. Rival Spirit Airlines, for example, is starting to hire pilots and flight attendants this month. Domestic leisure travel, on which these airlines were already focused before the pandemic, is recovering more quickly than business and international travel.
Frontier posted a loss of $ 225 million in 2020 and revenue of $ 1.25 billion, compared to a net profit of $ 251 million in sales of $ 2.5 billion a year earlier, according to a regulatory document on Monday.
The company abandoned plans for an IPO last summer after filing an order in 2017.
The Denver-based airline plans to list itself on Nasdaq under the FRNT ticker.