Frontier Airlines continues to expand its schedule out of Philadelphia with nonstop, seasonal service to mid-sized cities a few times a week.
The airline announced it will launch non-stop seasonal flights between Philadelphia International Airport and Jacksonville, Memphis, Omaha and Madison WI starting in 2018.
Omaha and Madison will be new destinations not currently served from Philadelphia.
The announcement follows Frontier’s news last week that it will begin non-stop flights from PHL to Charleston, SC, starting in February 2018.
The four cities will bring to 24 the destinations Frontier serves from Philadelphia. Twenty-three of the destinations, which are served with a mix of year-round and seasonal service, have been added since December 2014.
The no-frills airline shifted its focus to Philadelphia after a short-lived attempt to offer flights from New Castle Airport (ILG). That effort ended in 2015.
Frontier is the only carrier at Philadelphia International that offers non-stop flights to San Antonio, Texas; and Punta Gorda, Florida. The flights operate seasonally.
The airline has been adding jets as it focuses on an ultra-low fare strategy that is targeting higher fares by large carriers such as American Airlines, which accounts for about 70 percent of the total flights out of Philadelphia.
American’s market share creates what is known in the industry as fortress hubs that can allow airlines to retain pricing power.
However, discount airlines such as Frontier and Spirit believe their costs are low enough and their service is not frequent enough to provoke an aggressive response. The result has been lower fares on some routes.
“This is terrific news,” said Airport CEO Chellie Cameron. “Travelers will not only have options to Jacksonville and Memphis, and more importantly, the service to Omaha and Madison will make it easier for travel between these new Midwestern destinations. We are very pleased by Frontier’s focus on Philadelphia and look forward to more service to more cities.”
The upcoming schedule is as follows:
– Jacksonville (JAX) begins Feb. 14, 2018 flying Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday #0858 departs JAX 10pm Arrives PHL 12:12am; #0473 departs PHL 4:30am Arrives JAX 7:05am
- PHL – Madison (MSN) begins April 8, 2018 flying Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday
#1078 departs MSN 1:41pm Arrives PHL 4:59pm; #1993 departs PHL 5:49pm Arrives MSN 7:15pm - PHL – Memphis (MEM) begins April 9, 2018 flying Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday
#1074 departs MEM 1:34pm Arrives PHL 5:06pm; #1989 departs PHL 5:56pm Arrives MEM 7:55pm - PHL – Omaha (OMA) begins April 9, 2018 flying Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday
#1528 departs OMA 11:09am Arrives PHL 2:57pm; #0181 departs PHL 3:47pm Arrives OMA 6:00pm
