Frontier Airways has simply introduced a large growth for 2024. I don’t often cowl when extremely low price carriers add routes, since they’re continuously adjusting their networks. Nevertheless, this growth is a bit totally different than previous ones, and I can’t assist however marvel how that is going to play out.
US extremely low price carriers have been struggling
We all know that extremely low price carriers in the US have been struggling fairly a bit these days. Leisure demand has come again extremely sturdy post-pandemic, so that you’d assume that extremely low price carriers can be doing nicely, provided that they’re focused at leisure vacationers. Sadly there are some points, although:
- A number of the summer season leisure demand has been for journey to Europe, and that’s a vacation spot that US extremely low price carriers don’t serve
- We’ve seen an enormous enhance in premium leisure demand, and extremely low price carriers don’t have as many premium merchandise to promote folks
- A big portion of the income for the legacy US carriers come from their loyalty packages, and specifically their profitable bank card agreements, and that’s one thing extremely low price carriers can’t capitalize on in the identical method
- In some ways, legacy airways have gotten higher at competing with extremely low price carriers, by flying bigger plane, and shifting their route networks to much more leisure locations
In October 2023, Frontier CEO Barry Biffle stated that his airline was “form of the canary within the coal mine,” which is one thing you don’t wish to hear. Executives on the airline have dedicated to remodeling the enterprise, so there’s an fascinating improvement alongside these strains…
Frontier Airways assaults legacy airline hubs with new routes
Frontier has simply introduced dozens of recent routes that will probably be launching this spring, between April and June of 2024. These routes cowl 38 totally different airports. What makes this growth so fascinating is the kind of routes that Frontier is including. No, we’re not speaking Baltimore to San Juan, or Islip to Tampa, or Cleveland to Punta Cana, as we would have seen previously.
As an alternative, Frontier is increasing virtually solely to the hubs of legacy airways, in lots of circumstances even flying between their hubs. You’ll be able to discover the complete itemizing of recent routes right here, however simply to offer some examples, the airline will fly from:
- Atlanta (ATL) to Minneapolis (MSP)
- Charlotte (CLT) to Chicago (ORD), Dallas (DFW), and New York (LGA)
- Dallas (DFW) to Houston (IAH), Chicago (ORD), Detroit (DTW), Los Angeles (LAX), Minneapolis (MSP), and Salt Lake Metropolis (SLC)
- Denver (DEN) to Chicago (ORD), Los Angeles (LAX), and New York (LGA)
- Los Angeles (LAX) to Denver (DEN), Phoenix (PHX), and San Francisco (SFO)
That’s only a tiny pattern of the routes, however Frontier is primarily including flights between main airline hubs (together with between hubs of two competing airways), in addition to flights from main airline hubs to different cities that sometimes have excessive pricing.
This growth will probably be nice for customers
Clearly extremely low price carriers in the US have to do one thing to enhance their margins. So this can be a very fascinating course for Frontier to take.
Traditionally, many extremely low price carriers have been targeted on working point-to-point routes in markets not served by legacy airways. For instance, that’s the whole lot of Allegiant’s enterprise mannequin, and Allegiant might be probably the most profitable extremely low price provider in the US.
Sure, Allegiant has the St. Petersburg to Flint and Punta Gorda to Appleton markets all to itself. So clearly Frontier goes precisely the wrong way right here, coming into markets which are largely very nicely served, however which perhaps don’t have very engaging pricing.
Airways have a ton of pricing energy at their hubs. For instance, Frontier is beginning flights between Charlotte and Buffalo. At present, American’s least expensive one-way fare out there is $192. Sure, that’s even when reserving months prematurely, and worst of all, that’s a primary economic system fare. Now Frontier is coming into the market, with fares beginning at $19. You’ll be able to wager that it will put downward stress on American’s pricing.
I feel there’s advantage to this technique, although admittedly it additionally doesn’t come with out some challenges. Frontier can’t compete with legacy airways when it comes to frequencies, and the airline additionally gained’t have as a lot connecting site visitors. The legacy airways can basically skim point-to-point demand from their hubs with excessive fares, since connecting passengers largely fill planes with decrease fares.
I’m undecided if Frontier will probably be profitable right here, however I admire what the airline is making an attempt, and the aggressive method. hopefully the airline can rapidly determine which markets show profitable, and modify capability accordingly.
One factor is for positive — that is very thrilling for customers, since you may wager that it will decrease fares in lots of markets.
Backside line
Frontier Airways is increasing considerably this spring, with dozens of recent routes. This growth consists virtually totally of recent service from the hubs of legacy airways, with plenty of hub-to-hub flying. Traditionally extremely low price carriers have tried to create a distinct segment by avoiding competing straight with legacy airways. Nevertheless, that’s a pattern that has been altering, and this newest growth by Frontier is the prime instance of that.
I’m curious to see how Frontier does with its growth. At a minimal, customers must be enthusiastic about decrease fares from hub airports.
What do you make of Frontier’s growth?
