Frontier Has a Good December

(MoneyWatch)  I know I'm late on this story, and I apologize for not writing sooner about Frontier's good December results. On the surface, they looked great, but there are some things to consider here.

Once again fuel prices saved the day. In December, Frontier paid half what it paid for October fuel. That, plus a surge in revenue, led them to a nearly $19 million profit for the month. Cash levels jumped to $69 million at the end of December compared to $53 million at the end of November, and life sounds good, right?

It's important to remember here that the airline actually sold two more aircraft during the month for $55 million, so that's bound to bolster the cash position. It looks like they used $30 million to pay down long term debt, which is good, but excluding reorganization activities, the airline dropped nearly $6.3 million in operating activities during the month.

So while it is definitely a good news month for Frontier, and the airline is making good progress in its reorganization bid, it wasn't all as rosy as it appears on the surface.