Budget airline king Bill Franke warms to first-class seats and premium upgrades

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — For decades, William Augustus Franke , Frontier Airlines ' chairman and a serial airline investor, made a killing selling cheap plane tickets and charging fees to check bags, to pick seats and for everything else. Now, he says first-class seats and other traveler comforts are in order — at least in the United States. Frontier is planning to roll out first-class seats next year on its Airbus fleet. It's also joined a growing list of airlines adding SpaceX 's Starlink Wi-Fi on board as it seeks to return to steady profitability. "We're not trying to have a Singapore Airlines first class," Franke, 89, told CNBC in late June at the model airplane-filled offices of Indigo Partners, the private equity firm he founded.