Frontier announces 22-route expansion with big focus on Mexico, Caribbean and Central America

Frontier Airlines is plotting an aggressive expansion into Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean — and it's doubling down on fast growth at the world's busiest airport.

The budget carrier this week announced a 22-route expansion, including brand-new service to the Turks and Caicos and a return to Nassau in the Bahamas for the first time in two years.

This barrage of nearly two dozen new flights came after the airline last week unveiled an additional 20 routes — many of which intersected with low-cost competitor Spirit Airlines, currently embroiled in bankruptcy proceedings.

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As part of this latest expansion, Frontier will add seven new and returning destinations out of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), which the carrier earlier this year identified as one of its biggest airports for growth.

The ultra-low-cost carrier will add other new flights to popular vacation destinations, such as Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta in Mexico and St. Maarten in the Caribbean, and bolster flights to a range of additional countries in Central America, including Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Costa Rica.

Among the more interesting additions is nonstop service between New York's LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU) in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Normally, LaGuardia's "perimeter rule" would prevent that 1,608-mile route from being added. However, Frontier will fly the route only on Saturdays — which are exempted from distance restrictions.

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All of the flights will launch between November and December, with service to some tropical islands launching just ahead of the holidays.

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Frontier's 22 routes announced this week

Here's the full rundown of Frontier's 22 new routes unveiled this week:

Resuming flights

Several of these new flights are routes Frontier has operated in the past.

It last flew five of the 22 routes earlier this decade: ATL-NAS, LAS-SJD, MCO-SAL, MCO-SJO and MIA-SAL. Meanwhile, Frontier last operated another three in the mid-2010s: ATL-MEM, ATL-MKE and MSP-ORD.

Bottom line

This expansion comes as the airline is making a clear push to be the budget carrier of choice in a wide range of U.S. and Central American markets, especially amid Spirit's precarious financial situation.

"The announcement further supports the airline's commitment to become the leading low-fare carrier in the top 20 U.S. metros," said Josh Flyr, Frontier's vice president of network and operations design, in a statement.

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