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Frontier Airlines has been making some interesting moves lately. After recently dropping change fees (more here), rolling out and then cutting service between New York John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) (more here), and taking Delta head on with flights from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) (more here), Frontier has now slashed eight routes from its network.
San Juan Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU)
Frontier announced its plans to form a base in San Juan back in January and it opened last month. The airline expects to employ up to 90 pilots and 200 flight attendants within its first year of operation. Along with the base’s opening, it announced the launch of 11 routes. Two of those are now being cut. These include Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) and Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW).
El Paso International Airport (ELP)
Frontier just launched the two routes being cut in May. Ontario International Airport (ONT) and San Diego International Airport (SAN) are both done effective immediately. El Paso International Airport (ELP) will still be served by flights from Denver International Airport (DEN) and Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS).
Other Routes:
These four other routes have also been chopped:
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) and Tampa International Airport (TPA)
- Kansas City International Airport (MCI) and Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
- Orlando International Airport (MCO) and Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA)
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) and St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL)
So far in 2024, Frontier has added more than 71 routes and cut 38 routes. Its strategy is shifting from being focused heavily on leisure routes to taking on the legacy carriers and their hubs.
Anthony’s Take: We’ll need to see if all of the changes that Frontier is making pay off. The ultra-low-cost carrier has been struggling lately and all of these tweaks are done in hopes of getting back on the right path.
(Image Credits: Frontier Airlines, Sonder Quest, and Aiden Frazier.)
(H/T: The Points Guy.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
3 comments
Frontier is struggling because they are spending money on frivolous items like bear paws and coloring books and not on making sure their planes are catered, serviced or staffed. Their schedule building is causing flight attendants to fatigue out of duty on a daily basis as they attempt to become an all turn airline. If they would just focus on building sschedules that are actually workable, supplying crews and staff with appropriate items they might be able to provide a decent customer product and an efficient airline. But they are doing the opposite.
Frontier needs to develop a Network and business plan and stick with it. This AIrline creates routes and suspends them like throwing pasta at a wall and hoping that something sticks, when they do not see immediate results they shut them all down. Frontier needs to establish Focus Cities that make sense where they can survive and grow their business and present a more cohesive Network to attract more passengers. Being an ULCC in major markets could work if they stuck with a plan and grew their Network. San Juan is too leisure oriented and will probably be abandoned in the short term. Frontier has sustained operations in DEN and if they were wise they should go after ATL, EWR and MCO or IAH places that have large populations but minimal low cost carrier presence.
They need to adjust some of these rather than cut them. They are trying to compete with hubs served by better airlines. Instead, serve the missing routes. For example, fly MCI to JFK and maybe STL to JFK. I don’t think any other airlines fly into JFK from either city, last time I checked and it sucks to transfer through NYC.