Frontier Airlines (F9, Denver International) , in partnership with Denver International, is seeking approval from the Denver City Council for a new dedicated ground boarding and maintenance facility at the airport, the airline announced in a statement.

A 10-year agreement between the airline and the airport provides for an 11,148.27-square-metre facility (3,437.38 square metres new and 7,710.88 square metres remodelled) on the east end of the airport's Concourse A that will include 14 gates, 1,672 square metres of support space, and an adjacent 743-square-metre line maintenance facility to be built by the airport to support the ground load operation, a spokesperson explained.

Pending Denver City Council approval, the first phase of the project, encompassing an initial four gates, is targeted for completion in Autumn 2023, with full project completion slated for Summer 2024.

Frontier Airlines will have preferential use and scheduling rights for the 14 ground boarding gates, which will enable front and rear aircraft door enplaning and deplaning, along with exclusive branding rights throughout the facility.

The new maintenance facility will allow the centralisation of personnel and parts close to the gates and room for growth to support future operations.

The plan was presented to the Denver City Council Business, Arts, Workforce, and Aviation Services Committee on April 6, 2022. Pending committee approval, it will be submitted to the full Denver City Council on April 18, 2022, the airline said in a statement.

"A dedicated ground boarding facility will benefit customers by cutting in half the time for boarding and deplaning through the use of both the front and rear aircraft doors," explained President and Chief Executive Officer Barry Biffle. "That, in turn, will reduce our time on the ground between flights by nearly half and nearly double our number of aircraft operations per gate. We use ground boarding in a number of other airports around the US, including at one gate in Denver already, and it is common practice in international destinations".

Frontier Airlines serves 80 destinations from Denver International Airport. The carrier has a fleet of 112 Airbus aircraft with 232 more on order, according to the ch-aviation fleets module. The fleet comprises sixteen A320-200s, seventy-five A320-200Ns (with 56 more of the type on order), and twenty-one A321-200s. It also has on order 158 A321-200Ns and eighteen A321-200NY(XLR)s.

With 8.6% market share, Frontier Airlines currently ranks third in terms of weekly airline seat capacity at Denver International Airport, after United Airlines with almost 46%, and Southwest Airlines with 32%, according to ch-aviation capacities data.