CHARLES W. HIRSIG II Background Information Summit Airways/Challenger Airlines/Frontier Airlines by Ed Gerhardt Historian Frontier Airlines Denver, Colorado August 6, 1979 Charles W. Hirsig II was the founder and first president of Summit Airways, Inc. of Laramie, Wyoming. Summit was the predecessor company of Challenger Airlines Company which was merged in June 1, 1950 with Monarch Air Lines and Arizona Airways to form Frontier Airlines, Inc. of Denver, Colorado. Hirsig came from a pioneer Wyming family which settled in the Cheyenne area in the 1880s. At the age of seventeen Hirsig, in 1928, (received) the first private pilot's license issued in the state of Wyoming. In 1941 Hirsig bought out the branch of Plains Aviation of Cheyenne and renamed his organization Summit Airways, Inc. During World War II Hirsig operated flight training schools for the U.S. Navy. Besides his school in Laramie, he had other branch schools in Cody, Pinedale, Sheridan and Powell, Wyoming. While World War II was still in progress, Hirsig began planning for a scheduled airline to serve a number of cities in Wyoming and Nebraska with corporate headquarters to be in Laramie. The route application before the Civil Aeronautics Board in the Service in the Rocky Mountain States Area Case was decided March 28, 1946. The CAB gave to Summit Airways authority for eight cities in Wyoming, Lovell-Powell-Cody, Greybull, Worland, Thermopolis, Riverton-Lander, Rawlins, Laramie, Cheyenne, Rock Springs, Kemmerer and Evanston, the terminal to the west in Salt Lake City, the terminal east in Denver via Fort Collins and Greeley and the northern terminal of Billings, Montana. Hearing examiner for the CAB in the case was William J. Madden. During the same CAB hearing Ray Wilson, Inc. of Denver was also awarded with route authority for a local service airline operation in Colorado/New Mexico/Utah via various intermediate cities and with Denver/Salt Lake City/ Albuquerque as terminals to the routes. Wilson's operation, which began scheduled service November 27, 1947, was renamed Monarch Air Lines. Before the CAB came through with its final decision in the Rocky Mountain States Area Case, Charles Hirsig was killed while piloting a two-place trainer aircraft. He died on Monday, January 15, 1945. He was 34 years old at the time of the accident. Hirsig had flown some 40 miles northeast of Laramie to the area of his brother Fred's ranch near Iron Mountain. He had circled the ranch house of Merrill Farthing, adjacent to Fred Hirsig's ranch, when his aircraft apparently stalled and it plunged into a small lake on the Farthing ranch. Hirsig was married to Marian Severson of Cheyenne. They had a son, James, who was two years old at the time of his father's death and a daughter, Kay, who was then nine years of age. Mrs. Hirsig later remarried Mr. A.B. Nuss, now living at 2717 Carey Avenue in Cheyenne, Wyoming (307/634-2666). His brother Fred still lives on his ranch at Iron Mountain, Wyoming (307/634-6867). Hirsig's interests in Summit Airways were purchased by the Wyoming oil man, Fred Manning and Manning's son Jack. George Forbes, President of the 1st National Bank of Laramie became the new president of Summit Airways and Fred Rice, Laramie realtor, was a vice president of the company. Later George Snyder, Jr. of Salt Lake City and President of Challenger Airlines, Inc. purchased controlling interests in Summit with financial backing of Claude Neon Lights Company of New York City. Name of the company was changed from Summit Airlines to Challenger Airlines Company. Challenger Airlines, based in Salt Lake City, Utah initially, began scheduled operations May 3, 1947. In 1948 Donald A. Duff replaced Snyder as the president of the airline which now had its corporate headquarters in Denver, Colorado. Finally Challenger Airlines was merged with Monarch Air Lines and Arizona Airways to form one new company which became Frontier Airlines. First scheduled operations of Frontier Airlines was June 1, 1950. Today Frontier Airlines is a highly successful airline with daily service to 94 cities in 26 states. The airline operates a fleet of 35 Boeing 737-200 jets seating 106 passengers plus a turbo-prop fleet of 25 Convair 580 aircraft with capacity for 50 passengers. Recently the carrier extended its routes into Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Eugene, Oregon, Jackson, Mississippi, Shreveport, Louisiana, Boise, Idaho and Toledo, Ohio. In November, 1979 Frontier will expand its current Mexico service to Zihuatanejo via Mazatlan and Guadalajara. Frontier now has over 5100 employees with the company's General Office and Major Overhaul Base in Denver, Colorado. During the past seven years the airline has had total net earnings of over $71 million. In the first six month(s) of 1979 net earnings have amounted to nearly $10 million. The past year over five million passengers were carried so 2,398 billion passenger revenue miles with a passenger load factor of 63.6 per cent. A.L. Feldman has been President and Chief Executive Officer since 1971 of Frontier Airlines. Received from Jim Hirsig (5/23/00)