Frontier Airlines Says Chief Operating Officer Steps Down

DENVER (AP) - Frontier Airlines says its chief operating officer has left the company, the second high-level departure in less than a month at the budget airline.

A Frontier spokesman confirmed Monday that Bill Meehan stepped down last week and was replaced temporarily by Jim Nides, the company's vice president of flight operations.

Meehan, who joined Frontier in 2014 after being CEO of aircraft-maintenance provider Pemco and executive jobs at Continental Airlines, left less than two weeks after the exit of vice president of customer relations Deborah Price.

Frontier spokesman Jim Faulkner said both departures were due to personal reasons and were unrelated to complaints about widespread cancellations and delays after a winter storm in December.

Frontier's previous CEO, Dave Siegel, resigned in May 2015 after complaints about the airline soared.

Denver-based Frontier ranks 10th among the 12 biggest U.S. airlines at on-time performance, with one in every four flights arriving late in the latest 12-month figures from the Department of Transportation.

Frontier, like Spirit Airlines, charges low fares but relatively more in fees than many larger airlines. The New York Times reported last week that Frontier hired bankers to prepare an initial public offering of stock that it hopes will raise about $500 million.

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