Fairbanks will have a 3rd major air carrier this summer. United Airlines is returning to the Fairbanks market after a several year absence. United will run daily flights between Denver and Fairbanks June 7th through August 27th. United joins fellow summer flyer Frontier and year round carrier Alaska Airlines in the Fairbanks market. Fairbanks Convention and Visitor’s Bureau CEO Deb Hickock says the additional airline should equate to more seasonal traffic.
Tourism is still recovering from the recession. Hickock says Alaska is expecting improvement in 2012, but numbers are still forecast to be short of a 2008 peak.
Hickock says competition usually equates to better deals for consumers. She cites the state’s top carrier, Alaska Airlines recent announcement of its Club 49 member benefit program as evidence of an increasingly competitive Alaska market. Denver based Frontier joined the Fairbanks summer market in 2010.
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Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
