Frontier Airlines’ longtime CEO is leaving the company on short notice. While the (historically) ultra low cost carrier isn’t exactly doing well financially, I’m a bit surprised by this news, and in particular, the timing.
In this post:
Frontier replaces Barry Biffle with James Dempsey
Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle is stepping down from his role effective immediately, though he’ll remain with the company in an advisory capacity for a couple more weeks, through the end of the year. Frontier President James Dempsey has been named interim CEO.
Biffle joined Frontier as President in 2014, and became CEO in 2016. Meanwhile Dempsey also joined Frontier as CFO in 2016, and became President in 2023.
Frontier Board Chair Bill Franke had the following to say about this development:
“Jimmy has been an invaluable member of Frontier’s senior leadership team for more than 10 years and has played an instrumental role in the company’s evolution and growth during that time. We believe Jimmy is uniquely qualified to guide our airline into the future.”
“The Board of Directors is deeply appreciative of Barry’s leadership and dedicated service to Frontier over the past 11 years. We thank him for his many contributions during his tenure.”
Meanwhile here’s what Dempsey had to say about his new role as (interim) CEO:
“I am honored and excited to lead Frontier Airlines and thank the Board for its trust to shape Frontier’s future with our 13,000+ dedicated and hardworking team members. With 13 bases and a strong cost advantage, I believe Frontier is well positioned to deliver unrivaled value to customers across the United States. I look forward to partnering with our team to write Frontier’s next chapter as we strive to create long-term value for all stakeholders.”
The tone of the management change announcement sure suggests that Biffle was forced out.
Why I find Biffle’s departure from Frontier to be strange
Biffle is a bright guy, and one of the industry’s more outspoken and interesting characters. I don’t always agree with what he says, but I sure do enjoy listening to him, and think he has a good pulse on the industry. I also appreciate the contrast between his perspective and that of the “big three” carrier CEOs.
It goes without saying that the ultra low cost carrier sector has been getting absolutely destroyed in the United States in recent years, given how trends have evolved. This includes everything from strong premium demand, to strong long haul demand, to airline profits increasingly coming from loyalty programs. Those are all areas where predominantly domestic ultra low cost carriers struggle to compete.
I do think the industry has fundamentally shifted against these business models. With that in mind, I think Biffle has done a solid job trying to adapt the airline to updated trends, and doing so with urgency. This includes everything from the airline leaning heavily into its loyalty program, to introducing first class, and more.
Just look at Frontier and Spirit, two airlines that had similar business models and were both super successful pre-pandemic. While Frontier is a long ways from being profitable, it’s doing a lot better than Spirit!
What I find strange about this announcement is twofold:
- If Frontier wanted a complete management overhaul, you’d think you wouldn’t appoint someone from the current management team to take over; I suppose Dempsey is only the interim CEO for now, but it doesn’t sound like Biffle is being dumped in favor of one other specific person
- The timing of replacing Biffle is odd to me, given that competitor Spirit is sort of on the brink at the moment, and that situation could change any time; so you’d think that Biffle’s leadership could be helpful there
I think perhaps Biffle’s biggest issue as CEO was that he always had an overly optimistic financial outlook. So while I think he often did the best job possible for the company’s bottom line (while in a very tough situation), he consistently overpromised and underdelivered on financial performance.
Bottom line
Barry Biffle is out as Frontier Airlines’ CEO, and is being replaced by President James Dempsey, at least on an interim basis. Biffle is one of the industry’s most outspoken people, so I’m curious what’s next for him. It’ll also be interesting to see if Dempsey is truly just interim CEO, and if so, who replaces him.
It seems like the coming months could be pretty interesting for Frontier, which is why I find the timing of this change to be a bit surprising. I wonder if there was one specific thing that triggered this, or…
What do you make of Biffle’s departure from Frontier?
Reckon the jig was up and the board was thisclose to finding out that the name he gave them in a panic when he came knocking for a job is fake af
Dude thought River City (Frontier) was the place for him to settle down. But he should have known he never could quit being him, so he's off to the next town (airline)
Hops off the train at Spirit:
"You got trouble, folks, right here in Spirit Airlines, trouble with a capital "T"/
And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for post-pandemic travel trends that favor premium experiences and international travel, while Spirit's ultra-low-cost domestic model struggles resulting in poor financial performance exacerbated by Pratt & Whitney engine recalls, a failed merger with JetBlue and overall weak leisure demand and elevated capacity/"
Lyrics might need some work...
Hops off the train at Spirit:
"You got trouble, folks, right here in Spirit Airlines, trouble with a capital "T"/
And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for post-pandemic travel trends that favor premium experiences and international travel, while Spirit's ultra-low-cost domestic model struggles resulting in poor financial performance exacerbated by Pratt & Whitney engine recalls, a failed merger with JetBlue and overall weak leisure demand and elevated capacity/"
Lyrics might need some work...
I worked with Barry during his tenure at US Airways. His grasp on the airline business is unshakable. If US Airways had not gone into that second bankruptcy and been absorbed by America West, I would have expected him to become CEO of US Airways. I think for him Frontier is always been a question of the "dog that won't hunt." I think it's a very tough task to operate a niche airline when consolidation and other industry forces pressure your niche.
So I was in touch with this well-known and respected very senior airline executive out of the US. We were sharing notes for his upcoming appearance on "The Indian AvGeek".
About 4 weeks back, he completely stopped replying to me. Today I read he was unfortunately told to leave.
I want (and I would argue the industry needs) both Frontier and Spirit to survive (or a larger combined Frontier and Spirit) as the industry needs a check on Delta, American, and United absurdly raising ticket prices if capacity in the industry falls.
But ultimately there needs to be a balance - customers have choices, so there needs to be a base level of service on these airlines that customers will accept. Then, see how...
I want (and I would argue the industry needs) both Frontier and Spirit to survive (or a larger combined Frontier and Spirit) as the industry needs a check on Delta, American, and United absurdly raising ticket prices if capacity in the industry falls.
But ultimately there needs to be a balance - customers have choices, so there needs to be a base level of service on these airlines that customers will accept. Then, see how much of a price delta you can maintain versus the majors. I gave Spirit a try and swore it off after a bad experience. I would try Frontier if schedule and pricing worked, but most often scheduling is just not as robust on the routes I fly.
I want (and I argue that airports everywhere need) both Frontier and Spirit to fail and fail miserably as the industry needs to eliminate their trailer trash customer base from every airport on this continent. I want fares to go through the roof to eliminate the lowlifes like MAGAtts from our flights. The US only needs five airlines, and those slots are occupied.
Barry has wiffled his last Biffle.
I know little about the guy, and it’s been years since I’ve flown on Frontier, but I, like many others, really liked this guy, if only because of his awesome-sounding name.
It’s silly, but sometimes silly matters.
I would imagine Q4 numbers are going to be horrific and someone had to sacrifice their head. In a year from now Frontier will be in bankruptcy struggling to survive. The ULCC model doesn't scale in the US.
My dude, this is not an indictment of ULCC’s… it’s a sign the US economy, at-large, is struggling. Hard. I’d argue it’s because of the horrendous policies of this administration, specifically the wealth-killing tariffs, rising housing, healthcare, and food costs, all combined with massive layoffs. When folks don’t have money, they stay home.
Keep in mind that they reiterated 4Q guidance as part of the release announcing this move
"has been an invaluable member of the senior leadership team for more than 10 years" ... "uniquely qualified to guide our airline into the future"
Idk, those look contradictory to me. If things aren't going well, shouldn't they tap someone who *wasn't* responsible for that?
Lucky, would be interesting to see a post (and your thoughts) about the LCC market (ultra and/or otherwise) in the US as it stands today, and what you think the future might entail, especially for the various airlines.
Misconduct or merger-related is my guess,
Agreed. My first thought was that maybe he was adamant about making a play for Spirit again, kind of an ego play to say his previous efforts were not in vain. Maybe he made an ultimatum, and the board was having none of it. That, or he was banging his subordinate.
My mind went straight to misconduct. I'd bet he grabbed one too many asses. (One being too many, of course.)