Frontier Airlines' call center in southern New Mexico is closing Tuesday and 11 of its workers are moving to Denver as the airline consolidates operations under its new ownership.

Frontier was acquired out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October by Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc., which also recently bought Milwaukee-based Midwest Airlines.

The shutdown of the Frontier reservations center in Las Cruces, N.M., was announced Sept. 28. At the time, Frontier said the shutdown would "eliminate an operational duplication that exists with our Midwest Airlines partnership."

About 100 workers were still employed as of Tuesday at the Las Cruces center, which opened in 2000. That's down from a high of as many as 200.

"People have continued to work hard. We have a remarkable group of people," Ruben Servando Valdez, who has managed the facility since it opened, told the Las Cruces Sun-News. "I'm blessed to have worked with these people."

The Las Cruces employees were offered jobs elsewhere with the company. Eleven have accepted and will move to Denver, Servando Valdez told the Sun-News, but he said he plans to stay in the area.

Source : Bizjournals.com