Low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines will outsource 1,300 jobs at Denver airport and Milwaukee

Frontier Airlines says that it will hire contractors to do the work of 1,300 employees — about a third of its total workforce — at the Denver airport and in Milwaukee.

Frontier said it will hire a unit of Swissport International Ltd. to perform all ground-operations work at the Denver airport, replacing 1,160 airline employees. Sitel, a privately held company based in Nashville, will be hired to replace 140 reservations workers in Milwaukee.

Frontier spokesman Todd Lehmacher said the Frontier employees would be given priority for interviews with the contractors.

Before the cuts, Frontier had 3,800 employees.