Frontier Airlines, a US low fare carrier headquartered in Denver, collapsed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday as the latest casualty of the growing shake-up of global aviation, as carriers struggle to cope with record oil prices and weakening economic growth.

Frontier said it had been forced to seek court-administered protection from its creditors in response to a move by its principal credit card processor, First Data, to start withholding “significant proceeds” received from the sale of Frontier tickets.