Frontier Airlines is expanding in the New York City area in an interesting way, with four daily flights to a single destination. I can’t decide whether this is genius, dumb, or somewhere in between?
Continue reading: Hmm: Frontier Airlines Expands to JFK, Returns To EWR
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
While the background on the JFK slots would be good to know, this isn't a story about NY as much as San Juan. Frontier has massively expanded at SJU post pandemic and has almost systemically targeted every route conducted by Spirit and Jetblue aimed at locals.
Let us know the terminal as soon as announced. I would pay a premium to stop using T5.
The question is who had JFK slots to lease and how the FAA agreed to additional flights at EWR at decent times given that the FAA still limits flights at EWR.
B6 appears to be the target since they are the only carrier that serves both NYC airports.
Given their high density, they could make money with these low fares. DL and UA probably can command enough of a revenue premium to justify their higher costs in addition to being able to connect passengers onto those flights from their NE US networks.
Like what B6 employees should already be doing, Frontier is merely planning ahead for the day when Carl Icahn sends B6 into the dustbin of aviation history
If Frontier Airlines does poorly in a city, they simply drop it and move on to other profitable destinations. No big whoop! Once Spirit drags itself to an its final flight, a world of opportunities will occur within their network. Die Spirit, die.
For Frontier to grab market share on already crowded routes is to come in with cheaper fares. So far the bottom of the barrel fare business model isn't turning a profit. (To be fair don't know if Frontier is cash flow positive).
NYC-SJU is a bottomless pit of VFR demand - witness the former Tower Air 747s that used to operate in this market and the endless B6 frequencies that operate today. Not exactly high yield but with F9s cost structure should be fine.
Just another way to put more pressure on B6....
As for the timings, JFK and EWR slots do NOT apply before 6AM or after 10:59PM so that explains the 5:59AM departures and the late evening arrivals. Someone gave up some midday slots but those are not nearly as valuable as the afternoon slots.... Probably AA which seems to have plenty of slots these days!
Splitting frequencies between two airports at identical times seems a weird way to maximise profitability. .......
Again, endless VFR demand from NYC to SJU. Times are due to slots (or lack thereof early and late)
Was surprised to hear from some friends that live in NYC that they will avoid certain airports entirely as they're too difficult to get to (given they don't have cars) so I think there is some logic to this
No Thank you , I don’t change my Jetblue to only save couple dollars , flying on jetblue I got everything for Less price for example good service, inflight , comfortable seat, unlimited movies . Direct TV FREE SNACKS if the flight is delay controllable jetblue compensation and giving in free snack at the gate or meal voucher … flying on Frontier is WORST SERVICE IF THE FLIGHT IS DELAY I DONT GET NOTHING… NO THANK YOU … JETBLUE US MY FAVORITE AIRLINE
What’s up with these super early flights. Do people really want to be at an airport at 4-4:30AM and have to get up at 3AM. Thats madness. This doesn’t sound geared toward tourist travel.
I wonder who their customers for this segment are. If people connecting and the connecting flights are at LGA, then customers will find this inconvenient. If people based in New York, then it may be okay if the demand is enough. Also, legacy carriers compete with the low cost carriers on price too. Many of them offer very restrictive and cheap fares in basic economy of which everything is paid for similar to low cost carriers.
Both sides of the Hudson have a huge population of native Puerto Ricans. Whether they can compete long term remains to be seen but the market is there.
Both sides of the Hudson have a huge population of native Puerto Ricans. Whether they can compete long term remains to be seen but the market is there.
This is true. Many New Yorkers do not have cars, especially the customer base who will be flying Frontier to San Juan from New York. As a result, they look for flights based on specific airports. I used to live in NYC, and I would also mostly look to fly out of specific airports (unless I'm taking a long-haul flight).
There is a huge amount of demand for travel to Puerto Rico from NYC. Since LGA doesn't/can't have flights to SJU, JFK makes sense. A lot of New Yorkers won't look for flights out of EWR. EWR makes sense for those in Manhattan, particularly those South of Central Park, and the Upper West side. The time to JFK and EWR from the Upper East Side is almost the same for both. But a cab is very expensive. And a lot of the customers flying Frontier on this route will likely be concentrated in Queens and Brooklyn. As a result, JFK makes sense. Same is true for Newark. If someone wanted to get from Queens to EWR, it would take them 20-40+ minutes on the subway, and then another hour to get to EWR from Penn Station (taking the NJ train), and it will cost them about $19 each way for transportation. This is why JFK makes sense for many. I'm sure this route will do pretty well for Frontier.