Frontier Airlines is adding six routes to its network from Las Vegas McCarran (LAS), with a further six services to start from Miami International (MIA) over the coming months.
Flights are being added from LAS to two destinations in Mexico, connecting the Nevada city with Puerto Vallarta (PVR) and Los Cabos (SJD), starting on March 25 and 26 respectively. Both routes will be served 2X-weekly.
Four new domestic markets will also be served 2X-weekly, with El Paso (ELP) and Little Rock (LIT) starting on March 11, and Oklahoma City (OKC) and Wichita (ICT) beginning a day later.
“These new routes not only support travelers’ enduring desire to experience Las Vegas, but also the belief that we will be a leading destination as air travel picks up,” LAS chief marketing officer Chris Jones said.
According to the latest OAG Schedules Analyser data, competition will be provided by Allegiant Air and Southwest Airlines on routes to ELP, ICT and OKC, while Southwest also flies from LAS to LIT.
From MIA, four of the new routes are to international locations, connecting the city with Cancun (CUN) in Mexico, Guatemala City (GUA) in Guatemala, San Salvador (SAL) in El Salvador and Santo Domingo (SDQ) in the Dominican Republic.
The LCC first confirmed its intention to begin flying from MIA to GUA and SDQ in December 2019, but the planned routes were put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Frontier’s 3X-weekly MIA-SDQ service begins on Dec. 17, with a 4X-weekly route to CUN scheduled to start in March. GUA and SAL join Frontier’s network from April, operating 3X-weekly and 4x-weekly respectively.
Two previously announced domestic routes are also being added. Flights to Orlando (MCO) in Florida will be daily from February and Ontario (ONT) in California will be 4X-weekly from April.
“Congratulations to Frontier on launching these first-ever international flights from Miami, and for increasing its network at MIA to a total 27 cities,” MIA director and CEO Lester Sola said.
“Domestically, Ontario is a completely new route for MIA, and its daily service to Orlando provides passengers another travel option between our two popular destinations.
“After exactly six years at MIA this month, and we are pleased to see that Frontier’s commitment to the Miami market is stronger than ever.”
Frontier began flying from MIA in in December 2014 with routes to Chicago (ORD), Denver (DEN), New York La Guardia (LGA), Philadelphia (PHL) and Washington Dulles (IAD).
Data provided by OAG shows the carrier offered 318,000 departure seats from MIA in 2019, making it the airport’s ninth largest carrier by capacity.
Daniel Shurz, SVP of commercial at Frontier Airlines, said: “Frontier’s growth in Miami has been remarkable and these new routes complement our already broad range of destinations.
“Like all Frontier flights, this new service will adhere to our comprehensive health strategy, including required temperature screenings, mask wearing and enhanced cleaning on every aircraft.”
Frontier will face competition on five of the six new routes from MIA, OAG data shows. American Airlines flies to CUN, MCO, SAL and SDQ, with Avianca and Eastern Airlines competing on SAL and SDQ respectively. Only MIA-ONT is unserved.
Speaking at Take Off North America in late October, Frontier CEO Barry Biffle said the Denver-based airline well-placed for further expansion over the coming years fueled by ongoing low-cost point-to-point leisure demand in the US.
“Our growth is still intact,” he said. “We still have over 150 aircraft on order, and we have no intention to make major changes to that.
“Assuming that by mid-next year demand is recovering, in order to exploit this opportunity, we need to be at full potential going into the fourth quarter.”
Photo credit: Joe Pries
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