Frontier Airlines returning to Philadelphia as service is reduced in Delaware

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A Frontier flight arriving from Denver.
A Frontier flight arriving from Denver.

 

In what could be an ominous development for New Castle Airport, (ILG),   Frontier Airlines is expected to return  to Philadelphia.

Philly.com reported that he airline today will announce  nonstop flights from Philadelphia International Airport to Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, Fla., and Cancun, Mexico, in December. Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., and Chicago will be added in the  spring.

Frontier kicked off the announcement of the service with fares as low as $15 one way from Philadelphia in a one-day sale

Frontier will offer flights from New Castle to Tampa and Orlando this winter and has not ruled out resuming additional service from New Castle this summer. Frontier is dropping service to Chicago, Denver, Fort Meyers,  Atlanta in the fall from New Castle.

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Frontier is now owned by Indigo Partners and with a beefed up management team in place is not afraid to add flights in larger airports. Frontier had previously dropped Philadelphia from its flight schedules. Indigo previously owned a controlling interest in Spirit Airlines, which also flies out of Philadelphia.

The carrier now sees opportunities in major markets, due to airline mergers, including the combination of US Airways and American Airlines. Until Indigo took over, the airline had been looking at airports with lower landing fees. It is also testing whether it can compete head-to-head with Spirit in one market. 

There are no overlapping non-stop  flights out of Philadelphia between Frontier and Spirit Spirit offers non-stops from Philadelphia to Dallas, Las Vegas and on a seasonal basis, Myrtle Beach. Like Spirit, Frontier operates with the ultra-low fare model that includes charges for all luggage.

Frontier  recently added Chicago O’Hare, one of the nation’s two busiest airports to its system, while beefing up its flight schedule in Cleveland, a city that has seen a reduction in flights from bigger carriers.

Critics have claimed that air fares from Philadelphia have crept up since the merger, although the two carriers still operate separately.

Frontier told Philly.com it has no plans to reduce service from Trenton/Mercer County. The airline has beefed up service from the airport, which also serves a large swatch of New Jersey. Much of the market for the New Castle Airport is within a 30 to 45-minute drive of Philadelphia. 

Frontier launched service from New Castle in July 2013 and saw flights running at 90 percent occupancy.At the time, Frontier executives cited the hassles of flying out of Philadelphia, which has a limited number of runways and is prone to flight delays. By contrast, the New Castle Airport has been praised for its level of service and features such as free parking. By contrast, travelers can pay as much as $20 a day for parking near the terminal in Philadelphia.

News of service cuts from New Castle  has angered travelers who said the full flights showed the popularity of the service. However, aviation analysts cautioned that airlines will seek markets where fares have soared an profits are potentially greater.

Click on the link below for the full story: from Philly.com

Frontier Airlines to return to Phila..

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