Frontier Airlines Expands to Newark With 15 New Routes as Southwest Exits

Aug. 27, 2019

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3 min read

Frontier Airlines Expands to Newark With 15 New Routes as Southwest Exits

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Frontier Airlines will add Newark to its map with 15 new routes beginning this fall, landing at the New York-area airport just weeks after Southwest Airlines raised the white flag there.

The Denver-based ultra low-cost carrier will initially connect Newark Liberty (EWR) to seven destinations starting in November:

Atlanta (ATL) — daily from Dec. 10
Las Vegas (LAS) — daily from Nov. 14
Miami (MIA) — daily from Nov. 14, and twice daily from Dec. 10
Orlando (MCO) — twice daily from Nov. 14
Phoenix (PHX) — daily from Dec. 10
San Juan (SJU) — daily from Nov. 14
West Palm Beach, Florida (PBI) — seasonal daily from Dec. 10

Frontier operates a fleet of Airbus A320 family aircraft.

The airline plans to follow up its initial seven routes eight additional ones. Frontier did not give a specific launch date for flights from Newark to Cancun (CUN), Mexico; Chicago O'Hare (ORD); Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW); Denver (DEN); Ontario (ONT) in California; Punta Cana (PUJ) in the Dominican Republic; Raleigh/Durham (RDU) and Tampa (TPA), saying only that those routes would begin in March and April 2020.

“We’re excited to make flying more affordable for the Garden State with 15 new routes from Newark,” Barry Biffle, CEO of Frontier, said in a statement. The airline adds that all of its flights from Newark will operate outside of "delay prone afternoon hours."

Frontier's new routes from Newark. (Photo courtesy of Frontier Airlines)

Frontier's initial bevy of routes from Newark start just weeks after Southwest exits the market. The Dallas-based discounter will end nine years of service to the airport on Nov. 3, attributing the move to the on-going Boeing 737 MAX grounding and poor economic performance.

Frontier will replace Southwest in three markets from Newark: Denver, Orlando and Phoenix, according to Diio by Cirium schedules.

Southwest will consolidate its New York operation at LaGuardia (LGA) after ending flights to Newark. The airline plans to shift flights to larger aircraft at the airport in order to add seats in the slot-constrained market.

Newark is just the latest in a long line of markets that Frontier has entered in a big way. However, many have since shrunk just as quickly, including Trenton (TTN) and Washington Dulles (IAD). In others — such as Wilmington, Delaware — Frontier has pulled out altogether after debuting with a splashy entrance.

Frontier is the most likely to cut a new route among US carriers, a recent analysis by TPG found. The airline axed more than 13% of the routes it flew in July 2018 by this July.

Frontier faces stiff competition in Newark, even with Southwest's exit. United Airlines serves all of the carrier's planned routes except Ontario from Newark, Diio data shows. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines and VivaAerobus also serve some of the destinations.