Frontier Airlines restructured its fares and announced the appointment of former Spirit Airlines executive Barry L. Biffle as president. The airline vows to retain a focus on the customer and low fares while adding much despised charges for carry on luggage.
Frontier announced it will “unbundle fares,” by charging for carry-on luggage and seat assignments in return for dropping base fares by 12 percent. Fees have become a primary source of profits for airlines and marginally profitable Frontier wants to boost results under its new ownership.
The changes come as the airline starts its summer schedule that includes reducing service to once a week from Wilmington/Philadelphia to Tampa and Fort Myers, Fla., and temporarily dropping connecting service to the West Coast from Delaware via Denver, beginning in June.
At the same time, the carrier is adding service from Wilmington/Philadelphia to Atlanta and Detroit.
“With an unbundled product, customers can save even more by choosing to pay for only the products that they want, allowing them to customize their flight experience for each and every flight,” David Siegel, CEO of Frontier Airlines stated in a release. Click here to read the entire release. One example of the bundling is the “Classic” fare, which is fully refundable, has added legroom and allows one carry-on bag at no extra charge.
In releases and emails that went out after the announcement Frontier stated that the changes would make the boarding process easier, presumably because more passengers would presumably check luggage, rather than using carry-ons. Indeed, a look at the fee schedule indicates that those checking luggage will pay a lower fee than those bringing bags on board.
According to a Frontier release, Biffle will report to CEO Siegel. Biffle has has held numerous airline senior executive and management roles with experience in turn-around situations and development of ultra-low cost carriers. Beginning on July 16, Frontier’s operations, marketing and related information technology organizations will report to Biffle.
Flights from Wilmington/Philadelphia are operated a few times a week and primarily take aim at the leisure travel market. Frontier has undertaken a more aggressive expansion in Trenton, where it now serves 17 cities using the non-daily service model.
The release from the airline made it clear, that Biffle’s appointment wants to keep a customer focus in an ultra-low-fare sector that is not known for its friendliness to passengers. Spirit has responded to such claims by saying that many customers simply don’t understand the business model that offers low fares, even when its numerous fees are included.
Spirt recently launched a 99.9% campaign that offered discounts and took note of the fact that 99.9% percent of customers did not file complaints with federal regulators. Frontier also scored low on ratings, but analysts have noted that the turmoil surrounding the future of the carrier prior to its recent sale and the tricky weather at its Denver hub contributed to the ranking.
Spirit offers non-stop flights from Philadelphia to Las Vegas and Dallas. Its presence has cut air fares to those cities.
The other major player in the ultra-low-fare market is Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Co., which briefly operated flights from Salisbury, Md. Allegiant uses older aircraft and charges for services such as printing out boarding passes at the airport.
It uses a largely non-daily service schedule to serve leisure destinations such as Las Vegas from smaller airports, such as Allentown, Pa. and Bangor, Maine. There has been speculation prior to Frontier’s launch from New Castle in July 2013 that Allegiant might fly into Delaware.
Both Allegiant and Spirit are more profitable than Frontier, which must still find ways to find what a middle path between low costs and higher levels of customer satisfaction.
“Barry is an industry innovator in the ultra-low cost space who, importantly, also recognizes the unique opportunity we have to create the first customer friendly and customer focused ultra-low cost airline in the United States. I am looking forward to working with Barry again and am delighted to welcome him to Frontier in such a crucial role on our senior management team,” Siegel stated in a release.
For the past ten years, Biffle has focused on pioneering the ultra-low fare model’s development in North and South America. He most recently served as CEO of VivaColombia in South America.
Prior to that he served as Executive Vice President of Spirit Airlines where he played a key role in the financial turn-around and development of the company, the release stated. Biffle also held several management positions with US Airways and AMR.
“I’m excited about the opportunity with Frontier. Being part of a successful carrier with a rich history that delivers low fares in the right way is the future of this model in the United States,” Biffle stated.
“Barry has proven leadership and significant commercial and operational experience. He will be an important addition to Frontier’s management team as we refocus the airline to become an ultra-low cost carrier that provides maximum value, by providing customers the option to pay for only what they choose,” said Bill Franke, chairman of Frontier and Managing Partner of Indigo Partners, Frontier’s controlling shareholder.
Prior to acquiring Frontier, Phoenix-based Indigo held a large stake in Spirit, which it has since sold.
There had been predictions that Indigo would use Spirit’s business model with Frontier. However, the carrier, while picking low-cost airports like Trenton and New Castle as a way to cut costs, has not yet adopted Spirit’s most hated features that include packing in passengers with seats that do not recline. However, it did add charges for carry-on bags that could add as much as $120 to the cost of a ticket. The charges became effective this week for future flights.
Frontier did take a page from the Spirit playbook through by announcing a Discount Den “club,” with members receiving discount fare offers and lower prices for checked luggage.
(Doug Rainey has covered the airline industry in smaller markets for many years in the Midwest and East coast).
Frontier needs to be consistent. Do the research, announce schedules and then maintain those schedules. I want to book a flight in October from Wilmington to Orlando and they are not taking reservations beyond September 21st. Does that mean they will cancel that route again? What works for an airline is consistency as well as service.
Delaware needs air service and Frontier could be the solution.
Discount airlines typically do not book flights beyond six months out. Southwest does the same thing. A look at the Frontier schedule indicates that this applies to all Frontier flights.