Frontier Airways is increasing within the New York Metropolis space in an attention-grabbing approach, with 4 each day flights to a single vacation spot. I can’t resolve whether or not that is genius, dumb, or someplace in between?
Frontier Airways goes all-in between New York & San Juan
For some context, of the “massive three” New York Metropolis space airports, Frontier Airways presently solely flies to LaGuardia (LGA). The airline hasn’t flown to Kennedy (JFK), whereas the airline pulled out of Newark (EWR) in early 2022. As famous by @IshrionA, Frontier is now including service to each Kennedy and Newark, with a complete of 4 each day flights.
As of June 6, 2024, Frontier will add 2x each day flights between New York (JFK) and San Juan (SJU). The flight schedules will probably be as follows:
F93546 San Juan to New York departing 6:07AM arriving 10:10AM
F93545 New York to San Juan departing 11:08AM arriving 3:07PM
F93548 San Juan to New York departing 8:15PM arriving 12:15AM (+1 day)
F93547 New York to San Juan departing 5:59AM arriving 9:58AM
As of June 28, 2024, Frontier will add 2x each day flights between Newark (EWR) and San Juan (SJU). The flight schedules will probably be as follows:
F93574 San Juan to Newark departing 6:00AM arriving 10:08AM
F93573 Newark to San Juan departing 11:08AM arriving 3:13PM
F93572 San Juan to Newark departing 8:15PM arriving 12:23AM (+1 day)
F93571 Newark to San Juan departing 5:59AM arriving 10:04AM
Each of those routes cowl a distance of ~1,600 miles in every course, and are blocked at round 4 hours in every course. It’s fascinating to see how the airline has almost similar schedules in each markets.
One logical query could be how Frontier managed to get slots at JFK, on condition that it’s one thing different airways have struggled with. I think about the airline was capable of get entry to some off-peak slots, although it stays to be seen for the way lengthy the airline can maintain these. In any case, United Airways tried to make a return to JFK, however finally wasn’t capable of preserve everlasting slots.
Frontier Airways has massively grown its presence in Puerto Rico in recent times, so it’s clear that these planes are “primarily based” in Puerto Rico, and are simply turning on the two new airports.
Is that this a sensible play on Frontier Airways’ half?
We all know that extremely low value carriers in america have been struggling fairly a bit recently. Leisure demand has come again extremely robust post-pandemic, so that you’d assume that extremely low value carriers could be doing nicely, on condition that they’re focused at leisure vacationers. Sadly there are some points, although:
- Quite a lot of the summer time leisure demand has been for journey to Europe, and that’s a vacation spot that US extremely low value carriers don’t serve
- We’ve seen an enormous improve in premium leisure demand, and extremely low value carriers don’t have as many premium merchandise to promote individuals
- A big portion of the earnings for the legacy US carriers come from their loyalty packages, and particularly their profitable bank card agreements, and that’s one thing extremely low value carriers can’t capitalize on in the identical approach
- In some ways, legacy airways have gotten higher at competing with extremely low value carriers, by flying bigger plane, and shifting their route networks to much more leisure locations
Frontier Airways administration is making an attempt to remodel the enterprise by switching up the service’s route community. A current Frontier enlargement noticed the airline attacking legacy carriers at their hubs, launching many hub-to-hub routes with pretty restricted competitors.
Alongside these strains, Frontier’s latest enlargement from Kennedy and Newark certain is an attention-grabbing one. For one, these are very aggressive markets:
- New York to San Juan has as much as 10x each day flights, together with 7x each day JetBlue flights and 3x each day Delta flights
- Newark to San Juan has as much as 5x each day flights, together with 3x each day United flights, 1x each day JetBlue flights, and 1x each day Spirit flights
Admittedly there’s quite a lot of demand between New York and Puerto Rico, however will this really show profitable for Frontier? These are fairly lengthy flights when it comes to working prices, and fares are already actually low. Moreover, Frontier’s prices received’t be that advantageous, since working out of those airports isn’t low cost, the stations will have to be staffed for simply two each day flights, and so forth.
I don’t know what to make of Frontier’s technique at this level. Admittedly extremely low value carriers have lengthy taken the strategy of “throw issues on the wall and see what sticks.” Nonetheless, I can’t assist however really feel just like the upside of this enlargement is pretty restricted, given the aggressive panorama, plus the restricted non-flying income these airways can earn.
Backside line
Frontier Airways is launching service to New York Kennedy, and is returning to Newark. The airline is seemingly doing this with one objective — serving San Juan, with two each day flights from every airport. These are already very crowded and aggressive markets, with pretty low fares. I’m curious to see if Frontier could make these routes work, or if that is an experiment that lasts for just a few months.
What do you make of Frontier’s JFK and EWR enlargement?
