And I quote the Associated Press,

“Frontier Airlines Feb. traffic Climbs”

While Frontier Airlines saw the number of revenue passenger miles “climb” 10.6% for February, it also saw that 10.6% increase come as the airline pushed 13.8% more capacity out the door.

Translation? The airline’s load factor dropped back to 70.8% for the month, down from 72.8 percent in 2006.

So you could have just as easily said, “Frontier Airlines Load Factor Drops in February.”

Big difference in perception.



Speaking of Frontier, Mike Linenberg, analyst with Merrill Lynch, put another “Sell” rating on the airline’s shares today.

I say “another” because Linenberg had previously had a “sell” rating on the stock last year. In his note on the change, Linenberg said,

“Frontier indicated that the snowstorms that hit its Denver hub in late December and early January will affect its March Q results. As such, we are widening our Mar Q loss per share from $0.10 to $0.27 (consensus loss forecast is at $0.14) to reflect the lower demand and higher costs resulting from the inclement weather.

Looking forward into 2007, we think Frontier’s margins will continue to be under pressure as the company embarks on a growth plan that is well above the industry’s growth rate and too aggressive given its recent financial performance (see Chart 1). Moreover, we view Frontier’s main hub as arguably one of the most competitive and challenging revenue markets in the country as United, Southwest and Frontier are all committed to their strong growth and presence. Given the earnings outlook concerns, we are lowering our FY 2008 (March YE) diluted EPS forecast from $0.20 to a loss of $0.10 (vs. consensus EPS of $0.12).”

Ticker: (Nasdaq:FRNT)