Frontier approved talks on a buy-out offer.

Frontier Airlines will open discussions with investors who have offered to buy 100% of the carrier for $16 a share. The acquisition group is led by Frates Enterprises of Tulsa, Okla., which is headed by businessman Joseph Frates, and includes Asset Management, New York; Aircoa, Denver; J. D. Holdings Inc., and the Frontier employee coalition. Last December, the five unions that form the coalition offered $19 a share for 45% of Frontier’s common stock. Airline President M. C. Lund said: “We have been advised that the union coalition believes that joint ownership with the Frates group appears more doable from a financial standpoint than an earlier proposal that involved sole ownership by the employees.”