United Airlines will continue to look outside the U.S. for future growth, focusing on new flights to other countries rather than on domestic routes.

"The growth opportunities tend to be international," Jake Brace, United's chief financial officer, said Wednesday during a JPMorgan Chase & Co. transportation conference in New York. "We don't think that it makes a lot of sense to add capacity in the domestic market."

United scaled back domestic flights significantly during its recent three-year bankruptcy. The company, which emerged from Chapter 11 in February of last year, focused its growth internationally where it faces less competition.

United, the nation's second-largest carrier and the dominant airline in Denver, thinks it can "average up" its profit margins by adding even more routes to regions such as Asia, Brace said.

That strategy could get a boost from tentative plans to open up air travel between the U.S. and the European Union.

The so-called "open skies" agreement would, among other things, relax restrictions that limit the number of U.S. airlines that can serve certain European airports.

Currently, only United and three other carriers can fly between the U.S. and London's Heathrow, for instance.

Allowing more airlines to fly into Heathrow obviously will lead to more competition for United. But the carrier sees opportunities to work more closely with its code-share partners, Brace said.

EU officials are set to vote on the agreement today.

Frontier Airlines chief Jeff Potter also spoke at Wednesday's conference, emphasizing that the carrier's main focus is still its Denver hub despite recent moves to expand outside the city by offering flights that don't connect through DIA.

Potter said there are few compelling reasons to start a new "focus" city in another area, a proposition he called "very risky."

Rather, Frontier will seek to feed more traffic into its system by routing passengers from regional and smaller markets through Denver with its new turboprop service and expanded regional flights. A passenger in Aspen, for example, could fly to New York with a stop in Denver.

Potter also said Frontier felt the effects of December's heavy snowstorms through the end of February because some passengers avoided flights that required a stopover in Denver.

In other matters

Aside from focusing on international routes, United CFO Jake Brace said Wednesday that the company:

• Remains a strong proponent of industry consolidation, even though there seem to be few willing partners.

• Has seen a softening in demand during the first quarter, although it has picked up in recent weeks.

• Will gain a one-time benefit of $170 million this year from its move to tighten expiration policies covering frequent-flier miles.

walshc@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2744