Western Pacific Airlines, or WestPac, took up service on April 28, 1995 using eight Boeing 737-300 jets. The low-cost airline was formed in 1994 under the name Commercial Air but the name was changed to Western Pacific for marketing reasons. Edward Gaylord of Gaylord Entertainment Company was actively involved in the formation and management of Western Pacific. Its headquarters were located in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado, near Colorado Springs.[1][2]
Originally based at Colorado Springs Airport, Western Pacific flights were predominantly west of the Mississippi River. Later the airline's route system spread to the east coast and expanded on the west coast as new Boeing 737s were purchased. At times the airline leased Boeing 727s. The airline declared bankruptcy in February 1998 and ceased all operations.
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The WestPac livery could be encountered on several aircraft in variations on the basic Western Pacific livery; however, most of the aircraft were painted in colorful logojet schemes. They included advertisements for:
The company also had a variety of other schemes with no corporate affiliations or their own advertising. They were:
The promotion with Rupert Murdoch’s American Fox network was shown nationwide in September 1995. During the episode, “Who Shot Mister Burns?” of The Simpsons, who ever phoned in with the answer or code won free travel or some other prize.
Western Pacific was involved with a new commuter airline, Mountain Air Express, which was set up in 1996, flying Dornier 328 turboprops.
Western Pacific had used Express One Internationals 2 Boeing 727s to fly to the Washington Dulles market during the rapid expansion period in 1995.
In 1989 Denver announced that Denver International Airport would replace Stapleton International Airport. Since the airport was self-funded it would charge higher-than-normal landing fees to pay back the bonds. Denver International Airport was also twice as far from Denver as Stapleton International Airport. Shortly before the opening of the Airport Continental Airlines withdrew their Denver hub, leaving Denver as a hub for only one carrier, United Airlines, whereas Stapleton had usually been the hub for two or three separate carriers.
There was a considerable move to look for secondary airports that could serve a hub taking Continental's place in the region without the high landing fees of Denver International Airport. Centennial Airport in Denver, Jeffco Airport in Broomfield and Colorado Springs Airport all were considered for alternate service.
While Western Pacific's Colorado Springs Airport hub had initially been successful in expanding to meet the demand and starting to siphon traffic away from Denver International Airport, by 1997 the carrier still had not made a profit in its two years of operation. However, Colorado Springs Airport is situated to the South of Colorado Springs (Denver is to the North) limiting its appeal to front range travelers. Therefore executives decided to move the hub from Colorado Springs to Denver International Airport in 1997.[3]
A day after the move was complete, Western Pacific announced that it would "purchase" Denver rival Frontier Airlines which had acquired Continental's former gates and operated out of Denver International Airport. The two carriers would also immediately start a code share and Frontier's schedule was to be secondary to Western Pacific's schedule. Western Pacific put a permanent hold on plans to expand their Colorado Springs hub.[4][5]
The merger started but after Frontier Airlines received access to Western Pacific's financial records as a part of Due Diligence, Frontier and their bankers pulled out and the merger was abruptly canceled, leading to Western Pacific's Bankruptcy and almost destroying Frontier in the process.[6][7]
Western Pacific declared Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in February 1998. Frontier Airlines survived and currently has a fleet around twice the size of the proposed combined airlines.