Under authority of a temporary one-year exemption granted to Frontier Airlines, that carrier instituted service from Rapid City, South Dakota, to Grand Forks, by way of Fargo, North Dakota.
This cover was carried on the November 15, 1975 inaugural Air Mail Route 73 flight from Fargo, North Dakota to Rapid City, South Dakota (where it was backstamped)
and is listed in the Contract Air Mail Flights (CAM) section of The American Air Mail Catalogue as 73SW95.
Frontier Airlines’ shareholders and the Department of Transportation approved the airlines’ merger with People Express on Tuesday, November 21, 1985, officially ending Frontier Airlines’ 39-year era as one of the west’s major independent air carriers. People Express, based in Newark, N.J., bought the Denver-based Frontier Airlines on October 9, outbidding Texas Air Corporation and a coalition of Frontier unions. With the Department of Transportation’s actions, Frontier Airlines officially became a wholly owned subsidiary of People Express, Inc.
On August 24, 1986 Frontier Airlines ceased operations and released all of its employees as the result of financial difficulties. On August 28, 1986, the airline filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code.
On October 17, 1986, the bankruptcy court approved the purchase by Continental Airlines’ parent corporation, Texas Air, of the assets of Frontier Airlines. The Frontier acquisition was one of several conditions established by Texas Air as requirements for its acquisition of People Express, Inc., Frontier’s parent company. The equipment and routes of Frontier were sold to Continental Airlines which reinstated many of the old Frontier routes using the purchased Frontier equipment and by rehiring many of the old Frontier employees.