Frontier Airlines Alerts Pilots, Flight Attendants Of Potential Furloughs

Frontier Airlines has issued formal furlough notifications to 35% of its flight attendants and pilots, becoming the latest U.S. carrier to warn of coming job losses following the end of federal payroll support on Oct. 1.

A spokeswoman for Denver-based Frontier confirmed in an email that the company plans to furlough up to 925 flight attendants and 559 pilots “as early as Oct. 1.” The company has not yet unveiled any furloughs outside of those workgroups.

Frontier is the latest ULCC to warn employees of possible furloughs, as discount operators feel the impact of declining leisure travel demand as COVID-19 cases surge across the country. South Florida-based Spirit Airlines recently warned 2,500 employees of coming furloughs, while Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air plans to furlough up to 275 pilots and eliminate 220 additional non-unionized positions.

All told, U.S. carriers have notified upwards of 75,000 combined employees about possible furloughs beyond Oct. 1, upping the stakes for Congress to reach an accord to extend payroll support for another six-month term. Of the country’s 10 largest mainline carriers, only JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines have not issued furlough warnings; JetBlue management has said the solid uptake of its voluntary leave and separation packages may mitigate the need for involuntary furloughs, while Southwest has committed to avoid letting go workers or cutting their pay through year-end.

Frontier’s warning to employees comes on the heels of a decision by its parent company, privately-held Indigo Partners LLC, to withdraw its application seeking an initial stock offering for the airline. Frontier spokeswoman Jennifer De La Cruz told Aviation Daily the filing has “remained dormant for some time now.” Withdrawing the registration “made procedural sense” from the perspectives of both the airline and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Cruz added.

Frontier has taken a more conservative approach to the pandemic than its ULCC peers, offering 57% of scheduled capacity from a year ago in July, compared to 91% for Allegiant and 82% for Spirit, according to schedule data sourced from Bloomberg analyst George Ferguson.