Frontier Airlines makes its seat selection, chooses style for new first-class product
Frontier Airlines has officially picked a first-class seat for its planes.
The Denver-based ultra-low-cost carrier announced April 8 that it's partnering with Italian seat manufacturer Geven on its first-ever premium seats.
The new, spacious recliners are set to begin joining the airline's fleet during the final months of 2025.
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Once installed, the new seats will mark a major new era for the budget airline — long known for its no-frills, all-coach cabins.
Last December, Frontier joined a growing trend of low-cost carriers revealing plans to launch premium seats, hoping to lure passengers who frequent its larger competitors — something the airline believes it will be able to do with the help of its new spacious seats, Gilles Bussutil, Frontier's vice president of inflight experience, said Tuesday.
"The goal was to design a seat that blends exceptional comfort, luxury and space, and making it available at Frontier's trademark low prices," Bussutil said while speaking at Aircraft Interiors Expo, a major industry gathering in Hamburg, Germany.
Frontier's new first-class seat
Frontier opted for Geven's premium product nicknamed "Comoda" for its new first-class seats. The airline plans to install them in a two-by-two configuration covering the front two rows of all its planes.
An uncustomized, off-the-shelf version of the seats sat on display just steps from the event's news conference, sporting all the extra space, storage and comfort you'd expect in a typical domestic first-class seat.
According to Geven, these seats offer a width of just under 21 inches, which is far better than the 16- to 17-inch-wide coach seats currently on Frontier's planes.
Know, though, that Frontier's version of these first-class seats will look a lot different.
Renderings Geven shared showed the dark black seats with pops of green — including Frontier's signature logo on the headrest.
Modifications will go beyond simple aesthetics, with the airline currently in deep talks about how it plans to customize the product.
We should point out that those renderings did not show seats sporting the leg rests or privacy wings surrounding the headrest Geven makes available on this product — as shown below.
Frontier is still deciding on whether to include those features and others, Bussutil said.
"We're still finalizing all the trim and finishes of the seat, so, more designs will be provided a little bit later on," he added.
Also still in discussion: What type of service the airline will offer around its new premium seats.
Historically, any food, beverages or other extras have cost more on Frontier — even in its UpFront Plus seats featuring a guaranteed empty middle seat that debuted in 2024.
"There's still discussion on what that service will look like for our customers," Bussutil said of its first-class offerings. "Watch out for news."
Planning an 'aggressive' rollout
Yet, even with some big decisions still to be made on its first-class product, Frontier is still plotting an "aggressive" retrofit timeline that should see a substantial portion of its fleet updated with the new seats during the home stretch of this year, Bussutil said.
Last year, Frontier CEO Barry Biffle told TPG he believed the carrier could complete all of its retrofits within two months.
Frontier's fleet spans 160 jets, and the airline has orders for 180 more aircraft over the coming years. All new jets, along with its current planes, will get the new seats.
It's safe to say the airline is eager to get them installed. After the carrier announced the new first-class product last December — and revealed plans to offer complimentary upgrades for Frontier Miles elite status members — applications for the airline's cobranded credit card spiked dramatically, Biffle revealed at a conference in February.
The airline is hoping to further entice travelers to join its loyalty program with a new companion pass for high-level elite status members set to launch later this year. It also recently took direct aim at Southwest Airlines by trialing free checked bags this spring after the Dallas-based carrier ended its long-standing customer-friendly bag policy last month, sending shock waves through the industry.
Read more: Why the Frontier Airlines Mastercard became the newest credit card in my wallet
'Colorado and Napoli' join forces
Frontier is the first U.S. airline to partner with Geven for first-class seats. The manufacturer is headquartered in Nola, Italy, east of Naples, resulting in a joining of forces that brought together "two companies from opposite sides of the world," Alberto Veneruso, the seat maker's managing director, said Tuesday.
"One from Colorado, and one from Napoli," he added.
Among the less visible factors that drew Frontier to Geven's first-class product is its lightweight design, Bussutil said. Lighter seats help with fuel efficiency, saving money and helping to limit an airline's carbon footprint.
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