Frontier Airlines promotes president to CEO

DENVER (AP) — Frontier Airlines, which has operated without a CEO for nearly a year, named its president to fill the vacancy.

Barry Biffle will also join the board, the privately held company announced late Wednesday.

Biffle, 44, and Chairman Bill Franke have run the airline since May 2015, when CEO David Siegel departed, citing personal reasons. Both Biffle and Franke came from Spirit Airlines, and Frontier is copying that carrier's business model of charging low fares but adding fees for many extra services.

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Among the top 13 U.S. airlines last year, Denver-based Frontier was second-worst in flight delays and complaint rates, beating only Spirit. In the latest government report for January, Frontier improved to fourth in on-time flights and reduced its complaint rate by nearly half.

Franke, managing partner of Frontier's controlling shareholder, Indigo Partners, said the airline improved its operations, finances and customer service under Biffle's leadership during the last year.