Sun West Airlines began in early 1980 with Piper Navajo Chieftain's on a Phoenix–Gallup–Farmington–Durango route, a route vacated by the original Frontier Airlines using 50-seat Convair 580's the year prior.

Service was expanded from Phoenix to Flagstaff and Yuma the following year as well as a Phoenix–Winslow–Gallup–Albuquerque route.

More flights were added on all Albuquerque routes after Frontier exited the markets in late 1981.

Sun West provided Essential Air Service for a time at Gallup, New Mexico and Winslow, Arizona.

By June 1983, Sun West had introduced the 14-seat Beechcraft 99 airliner but was then faced with intense competition by Air Midwest, Mesa, Pioneer, and Trans-Colorado Airlines on the Albuquerque to Farmington and Durango routes causing the carrier to retreat from these markets the following year.