[ad_1]
The budget airline Frontier Airlines is expanding at DFW International Airport with seven routes to cities such as Phoenix, Tampa and San Diego, which could eclipse its competitors American Airlines and Southwest Airlines to a handful of major cities in the United States. United States.
Frontier is adding direct flights from DFW Airport to San Diego and San Francisco in September and to Phoenix and Tampa in November. In April, Frontier will add non-stop flights from DFW to Buffalo, NY; Durango, Colorado; and Hartford, Connecticut.
The connections will be made between one and four times per week, a plan aimed at leisure customers willing to sacrifice the convenience of frequent departures for the price. Introductory fares will start at $ 29 for those who can purchase a handful of discounted tickets.
“We think there are a lot of markets in Dallas where the average fares are high,” said Daniel Shurz, Frontier senior vice president, commercial. “For a city that is growing so fast, there is certainly a demand for traffic from visiting friends and relatives.”
“Migration is the engine of this kind of traffic. “
Denver-based Frontier has historically had a small DFW presence, with three to five flights a day taking off primarily to Denver and a handful of seasonal destinations such as Branson, Missouri, and Cincinnati.
The super low cost brand of flight has not always been popular with some pilots. The airline only flies a few times a week and charges a fee for standard benefits of other airlines, such as carry-on baggage. But Shurz said leisure customers are drawn to airlines because they can offer lower fares than their major competitors, sometimes starting at $ 59 each way and even $ 29 for some introductory fares.
Starting this summer, Frontier took a big step forward with DFW. In June, it increased its non-stop connections from DFW to 13 with bi-weekly flights to cities including Atlanta, Las Vegas, Newark, Orlando, Miami, Philadelphia and Salt Lake City. The company now operates an average of eight to nine flights per day from DFW.
With additional routes coming over the next year, Frontier will serve 20 destinations from DFW International Airport.
Although DFW Airport and North Texas have seen more air service, Shurz said the region is lacking an expansion of low-cost services. “There was tremendous growth in the Southwest once the Wright Amendment was gone. [in 2014], but Southwest hasn’t significantly increased its presence since that time, ”Shurz said.
Southwest counts Dallas Love Field as one of its busiest airports, but the airline has peaked at the airport due to legal limits on the number of gates allowed.
Despite having two major airlines headquartered at D-FW with American Airlines and Southwest, tickets to the region cost about $ 269 on average in the fourth quarter of 2020, slightly above the national average, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
There has been some expansion by low cost carriers. Florida-based Spirit Airlines has added flights to leisure destinations such as Pensacola, Florida and Cancun and now serves 21 cities from DFW.
For new flights, Frontier will serve San Diego three times a week starting September 7, with flights on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Flights from San Francisco will begin September 8, four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Phoenix flights will begin November 1 four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Flights from Tampa will run four times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
North Texas airports brought in over $ 740 million in COVID-19 stimulus cash
[ad_2]
Source link