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Major Frontier expansion at San Jose, Denver, 19 other airports

Frontier Airlines route map

Frontier Airlines route map is constantly growing…and shrinking (Image: Frontier)

Low-cost specialist Frontier Airlines has unveiled plans for a huge network expansion, adding 21 cities to its route map by next spring. The carrier will also add service on dozens of new routes between cities it already serves.

Introductory fares are as low as $39 each way but keep in mind that Frontier fares are laden with all sorts of extra fees, which it calls “Optional Services.”

The company said the total number of non-stop routes it serves will nearly double by next summer, to 314. Frontier is due to take delivery of more than a dozen new aircraft by the end of next year, and will also free up more planes by trimming frequencies on some existing routes.

At Mineta San Jose Airport, Frontier will start flying to Denver on October 5 and Las Vegas on November 1, followed sometime next spring by flights to Austin and San Antonio. Some routes seem a little odd, like a new nonstop between Atlanta and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Check Frontiers fares and schedules here. 

The biggest bump in Frontier’s schedules will come at Denver, its headquarters city. In addition to San Jose, Frontier will add flights from DEN to Ontario, California beginning October 12; Albuquerque on October 24; Oklahoma City November 1; Palm Springs November 10; Reno November 21; and later to Boise, Buffalo, Calgary, Charleston (S.C.), El Paso, Fargo, Fresno, Grand Rapids, Jackson Hole, Little Rock, Louisville, Pensacola, Spokane and Tulsa.

Frontier Airlines is rebuilding its longtime base at Denver International. (Image: Jim Glab)

The airline will also bulk up its schedule at Islip, Long Island with new service to Ft. Myers, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New Orleans, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago O’Hare and Detroit. New routes from Austin in addition to San Jose will include Ontario, Calif. as well as Phoenix, New Orleans, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Cincinnati and Columbus.

Frontier’s announcement did not specify the number of flight frequencies in its new markets (but it’s schedules are notoriously thin, which means problems when flights are cancelled). You can see a complete list of all of them here.

“Customers will benefit not only from the broad new selection of nonstop routes, but our growing network will provide more than 1,000 new connecting route options,” said Frontier CEO Barry Biffle. “By taking advantage of our natural share of connecting passengers, we can offer our low fares to even more of America. This is particularly important through our largest hub and our home in Denver.”

Frontier has a history of announcing batches of new routes every now and then, and discontinuing service on others. Of the 21 cities it is adding to its network, 16 are airports that it once served but then stopped.

But the size of the latest expansion announcement is unprecedented. We have to wonder if this could be Frontier’s response to the growing availability of new “basic economy” fares on the major legacy airlines – fares which are the legacy carriers’ competitive response to the growth of low-cost carrier service in many markets.

While the focus of Frontier and other low-cost carriers is bargain-basement base fares, they also rely on a variety of add-on fees for various amenities to boost their passenger revenues.

But Frontier is not ignoring business travelers – it has a bundled fare category called The Works that includes refundability, a carry-on bag, a checked bag, priority boarding, a waiver of change fees and the best available seat. These fares (which start as low as $59 each way) appeal to business travelers at small or medium sized companies without clout or budget for these extras.

Have you flown Frontier? Why or why not? Please leave your comments below. 

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Comments

  1. Wow, I wish I could travel with just the clothes on my back. Maybe I’ll get in touch with my inner hobo. Or maybe I’ll just stick with Southwest and other airlines that end up costing the same once I add on Frontier’s carry-on and water-drinking fees.

  2. You are right about Delta’s gate capacity at SJC as today an Atlanta flight was leaving from Gate 4. They use 5 gates at SJC, likely sharing one. Frontier will only have about 2-3 flights total for awhile out of SJC as they appear to operate some destinations on a three or four times a week schedule. Denver will be daily.

  3. Hello….
    You may be right about Frontier at gate 1, SJC when the return, but I have looked at the SJC airport website flight schedule, and can see that Air Canada is presently using Gate 1. Air Canada used to use Gate 12, but now American has that gate, along with Gates A10, and A11, with the likelihood of sharing one or two of the other “A” gates with other carriers. Delta is definitely using A5, A6, A7, and A8, and United is now at Gate A9 which used to be used by American. United also uses a Int’l gate as they increased their schedule with the return of O’Hare flights and return of former Continental service to Newark from SJC. JetBlue used to be at Gate A8, and now uses Gate A2 and an int’l gate as well as sometimes two of their flights are at SJC at night at the same time. Watching what’s up in the airline industry has always been my hobby, in addition to keeping up with articles in Airways, Aviation Week, and Airliners………cheers !

  4. You can have both. You just have to pay a little more for them.

    As someone who needs neither, why should I subsidise the cost of your ticket?

  5. Ah, the famous introductory fares that no one can find. F9 is a ULCC and flies less than daily flights to most of its network. If flights don’t work out, they drop them, like they should. A year from now, I see F9 only flying the SJC-DEN and maybe AUS routes. Las Vegas and San Antonio (really) offer nothing.

  8. My guess is that Frontier will fly SJC – DEN with three flights to compete with United and Southwest, and one daily to Austin to compete with Alaska and Southwest, and one daily to San Antoinio which they will have to themselves, and one or two to Las Vegas as LV is very popular from the Bay Area. I have noticed gate changes at SJC, with United now using Gate A9 and one of the Int’l gates, and JetBlue now uses Gate A2 and one of the Int’l gates, and Air Canada which formerly used gate A12 is now using gate A1. Gates A1 and A2 were used by American before, and sometimes Delta, but only for a few flights, so it appears SJC made some changes, and now Frontier will likely get gate A4 for their seven flights, just guessing. So who’s on first ? Meanwhile, two additional gates for Alaska are supposed to be added to Terminal B, Gates B29 and B30 with a single bridge connecting two jetways sometime this fall. Alaska now has 5 dedicated domestic gates, Gates A13 (formerly United’s), and Gate A14, and Gates B26, B27, and B28. I have seen a little construction action, but not much as nothing significant is visable from the view from the roadway. Up at SFO, amazing changes, and at night the gleeming Boarding Area E lobby is quite nice with enlarged lobby, and T2 still looks very nice. The Int’l terminal was very busy at SFO.

  9. Depends, for a 1/2/3 hour flight, I really don’t need any frills. It’s all down to price.

    Back in the 1970’s, I would fly a lot of regional airlines, all of which have now gone except Alaskan. I flew Allegheny, Ozark, Piedmont, Southern, Texas International and Hughes AirWest.

    All gone, of course, but there was also a Frontier Airlines, also based out of Denver. It’s nice to see an old name be resurrected.

  10. Frontier has a habit of canceling routes quickly after they start. There is a reason why Marco Rubio stated last year Frontier was America’s worst airline.

  11. An airline with less legroom, charges for a carry-on bag, and doesn’t even provide a glass of water? No thanks. I’ll pay extra to take a legacy or Southwest.

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