Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc., Frontier Airline’s parent company, declared bankruptcy after its principal credit card processor, First Data Corp., said it would begin withholding a greater share of proceeds from ticket sales. Last Valentine’s Day, Frontier announced plans to expand services to a host of Rocky Mountain towns, including Aspen. Burried at the bottom of many mid-February press releases on this subject, it’s common to find mention of Frontier’s fiscal losses attributed to rising fuel costs:

AP, April 11, 2008–The airline unveiled its plans about three weeks after reporting its fiscal third-quarter loss more than doubled, in part, due to high fuel costs.

On Friday, the price of crude futures settled at $110.14 per barrel, just off an all-time high of $112.20 just two days earlier. Back in February, light crude was hovering in the $85 to $95 range, where it had vacillated since November, 2007. In Frontier’s third quarter, prices of $75 a barrel were thought of as obscene.

Understand Frontier will not realize the effects of current gas prices for some time yet, and neither will we. It’s not a reach to think that where service to Aspen and other Rocky Mountain communities is concerned, Frontier may be spraying perfume on a dead dog, er, ah, lynx.