EVERETT — Two water cannons greeted the first arrival from Frontier Airlines at Paine Field on Monday.

It was part of the celebration welcoming Frontier to Paine Field for the first time. It included a ribbon cutting from Brent Smith, CEO of Propeller Airports, a visit from Skyanna, a North American porcupine from Woodland Park Zoo, and plenty of green and yellow balloons.

The only thing missing was more passengers on the Frontier flights themselves.

Only 45 of the 186 seats on Frontier’s first inbound Airbus 320 flight from Phoenix to Paine Field and 50 on the departure back to Phoenix were occupied, said Frontier spokesperson Jennifer DeLaCruz.

Frontier and airport officials said they were optimistic that their planes will fill up once word spreads that there is a new airline at the

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