Welcome to the Frontier Airlines News and Discussion thread - 2022 edition. Please continue to post your news and discussions below.

Link to the locked 2021 edition:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1456099

Happy New Year everyone!

What to expect in 2022 from F9:
- 9 a320neos scheduled for delivery
- 10 a321neos scheduled for delivery (will be F9’s first a321neos)
-5 a320s to be returned to leasers for a total of 14 net new planes.
-potential opening of a new maintenance hanger at MCO
-and of course - more routes and new cities

Cheers!

I hope to see GEG get love but it seems they have never really been interested

I’d like to see COS get some more flights in summer 22. We had ATL/SAT/MCO/TPA/PHX/LAS in summer 19 and had a record tourism year in 21 so maybe we’ll see some more come back.

OKCDCA wrote:

I’d like to see COS get some more flights in summer 22. We had ATL/SAT/MCO/TPA/PHX/LAS in summer 19 and had a record tourism year in 21 so maybe we’ll see some more come back.

Hopefully you get more WN love

rph99 wrote:

Happy New Year everyone!

What to expect in 2022 from F9:
- 9 a320neos scheduled for delivery
- 10 a321neos scheduled for delivery (will be F9’s first a321neos)
-5 a320s to be returned to leasers for a total of 14 net new planes.
-potential opening of a new maintenance hanger at MCO
-and of course - more routes and new cities

Cheers!

F9 is supposedly going to also receive 5 of 10 "used" 321ceos this coming year. The remaining five are to arrive in 2023. It is believed these aircraft are coming from Volaris (Indigo Partners).

Frontier 14

What's with the "new maintenance hangar in MCO"? Are they bringing all the heavy maintenance, drop-in, and induction that Airborne does for them in-house? That's potentially a huge hit to reliability.

Frontier14 wrote:

rph99 wrote:

Happy New Year everyone!

What to expect in 2022 from F9:
- 9 a320neos scheduled for delivery
- 10 a321neos scheduled for delivery (will be F9’s first a321neos)
-5 a320s to be returned to leasers for a total of 14 net new planes.
-potential opening of a new maintenance hanger at MCO
-and of course - more routes and new cities

Cheers!

F9 is supposedly going to also receive 5 of 10 "used" 321ceos this coming year. The remaining five are to arrive in 2023. It is believed these aircraft are coming from Volaris (Indigo Partners).

Frontier 14

Their latest 10-Q updated that to indicate those ten will actually be neos not ceos. So they are expected to receive the first 5 of those, plus 5 from their previous order.

Interesting that it appears IAH will be continued.

Routes and frequencies likely to be announced tomorrow


https://www.flyfrontier.com/

I don’t think WN will like this one

With the swath of new WN gates coming at DEN… will be interesting to see how aggressively they respond

HOU is LAS/CUN/MCO

WN doesn't actually put a lot of n/s capacity on that route, just 4x Wednesday, one of which is a -700. F9 must think its lower cost base will make it competitive. Its fare competition may be NK ORD-IAH.

Jshank83 wrote:

HOU is LAS/CUN/MCO

where do you see this? no routes are on sale

Avelo shouldve done those first

The F9 pilot forums were abuzz today with a rumor that a closure or codomiciling (perhaps to MDW and MKE) of the ORD base is imminent. Will be interesting to see if the addition of MDW means that is true

I see PHX,DEN,MCO, TPA,ATL,LAS,ONT for MDW maybe more

Wneast wrote:

I see PHX,DEN,MCO, TPA,ATL,LAS,ONT for MDW maybe more

Also seeing FLL and DFW

Yeah this makes me think ORD is being cut but we will see tomorrow

MDW to ATL DFW DEN FLL LAS MCO ONT PHX TPA TTN https://twitter.com/IshrionA/status/148 ... 20835?s=20

also im seeing maybe SLC MIA

When did F9 leave MDW for ORD? I feel like 8-10 years ago but I’m sure I’m way off

LHUSA wrote:

When did F9 leave MDW for ORD? I feel like 8-10 years ago but I’m sure I’m way off

i thought MDW was brand new for them but its not?

HOU has to be new right?

PITFlyer330 wrote:

HOU has to be new right?

F9 had actually served HOU 10 years ago.

Looks like ORD was started September 2014 and they ran both ORD and MDW for a short while

LHUSA wrote:

Looks like ORD was started September 2014 and they ran both ORD and MDW for a short while

I think F9 moved operations to ORD from MDW in either 2015 or 2016.

Nvm SLC MIA are not apart of this

Which “focus cities” are getting cut? BWI? ISP? MIA?

PITFlyer330 wrote:

MDW to ATL DFW DEN FLL LAS MCO ONT PHX TPA TTN https://twitter.com/IshrionA/status/148 ... 20835?s=20

also im seeing maybe SLC MIA

Does MDW have the gates for this?

F9 originally added ORD because they picked up the discontinued Apple Vacations USA3000 flying. They gradually added domestic stations and pulled their last MDW route, DEN, about a year later.

Planeboy17 wrote:

PITFlyer330 wrote:

MDW to ATL DFW DEN FLL LAS MCO ONT PHX TPA TTN https://twitter.com/IshrionA/status/148 ... 20835?s=20

also im seeing maybe SLC MIA

Does MDW have the gates for this?

Probably. It’s not like WN is fully utilizing their gates anyway.

Wneast wrote:

I don’t think WN will like this one

Southwest has no choice but to sit back and watch. They can not like it all they want, but they cannot respond. Their CEO/BOD put all their faith in an uncertified FAA plane.

DaCubbyBearBar wrote:

Wneast wrote:

I don’t think WN will like this one

Southwest has no choice but to sit back and watch. They can not like it all they want, but they cannot respond. Their CEO/BOD put all their faith in an uncertified FAA plane.

Your right

Planeboy17 wrote:

PITFlyer330 wrote:

MDW to ATL DFW DEN FLL LAS MCO ONT PHX TPA TTN https://twitter.com/IshrionA/status/148 ... 20835?s=20

also im seeing maybe SLC MIA

Does MDW have the gates for this?

Yes they do. There should be about four gates available. At the moment no one is using the three gates on concourse C. Only time they get used is for DL sport charters. And I believe A10 is open which is DL gate but DL hasn't used this gate since 2020. Before the pandemic DL was operating out of four gates(A5, A7, A10, A12) but currently only uses two gates A5 and A7. Allegiant is using gate A12.

Thanks for the info Mexicana.

Mexicana757 wrote:

Planeboy17 wrote:

PITFlyer330 wrote:

MDW to ATL DFW DEN FLL LAS MCO ONT PHX TPA TTN https://twitter.com/IshrionA/status/148 ... 20835?s=20

also im seeing maybe SLC MIA

Does MDW have the gates for this?

Yes they do. There should be about four gates available. At the moment no one is using the three gates on concourse C. Only time they get used is for DL sport charters. And I believe A10 is open which is DL gate but DL hasn't used this gate since 2020. Before the pandemic DL was operating out of four gates(A5, A7, A10, A12) but currently only uses two gates A5 and A7. Allegiant is using gate A12.

Concourse C at MDW is a hidden gem. If Frontier uses these gates, than they’ll have their own little wing at MDW…away from SWA. Smart move Frontier

Will their A321’s be able to get out of MDW? I know ATA consistently ran their 757’s out of there, but not sure how the two planes compare.

Have Frontier confirmed anything from HOU?

krsw757 wrote:

Will their A321’s be able to get out of MDW? I know ATA consistently ran their 757’s out of there, but not sure how the two planes compare.

Presently 80% of the fleet is A320s, not 321s.

[list]

Flflyer83 wrote:

Which “focus cities” are getting cut? BWI? ISP? MIA?

Might even be a reduction in DEN for all we know.

Any MIA cuts that may come, I assume will lead to an FLL buildup. I don't think F9 is ready to start ceding its position down here. They've worked hard through the years to get into this market first FLL, the really building MIA into a good focus operation, don't think they'd take it down. Might fluctuate between MIA and FLL as we've seen in the past, but I doubt they'll ever really cut down here unless out of pure necessity.

Interesting the Frontier is challenging the monopoly in MDW.

It was clear to me BTW in the routes F9 are moving next month from MIA to FLL that WN, not NK (as commonly thought) was being targeted.
The moves into MDW and HOU cannot be interpreted as anything other than a frontal attack on WN. It will be very interesting to see how WN responds. F9's constant shifts in its DEN network through the years reflect often the competition from WN as much as from UA. Also felt F9's retreat from LAX to other LA Basin Airports might be interpreted as a shot at WN particularly at ONT but was seen more as a retreat from an expensive airport.

Is MDW more easily accessible from downtown Chicago than ORD with public transportation?

Interesting! I remember, back in the day, Frontier ran MDT-MDW for a bit, which I thought was weird because MDT had plenty of service to Chicago already (although via ORD). I hope MDW and HOU do well for them.

marcogr12 wrote:

Is MDW more easily accessible from downtown Chicago than ORD with public transportation?

For most of downtown, the answer is yes, and it's not straightforward to get from the El to Terminal 5 at ORD, where F9 operates.

marcogr12 wrote:

Is MDW more easily accessible from downtown Chicago than ORD with public transportation?

Both MDW (Orange line) are ORD (Blue line) are equally accessible from downtown Chicago, albeit the Orange line has more downtown connection points to the other transit rail lines versus the Blue line. On the CTA Airport transit webpage, MDW to downtown is listed as 25 minutes and ORD to downtown as 45 minutes. I'd add 5-10 minutes to those estimates

Cubsrule wrote:

For most of downtown, the answer is yes, and it's not straightforward to get from the El to Terminal 5 at ORD, where F9 operates.

Excellent point Cubsrule! From the underground CTA ORD station to T5 via the ATS or Bus (if ATS no operating) could easily add another 20-30 minutes to the journey.

marcogr12 wrote:

Is MDW more easily accessible from downtown Chicago than ORD with public transportation?

Travel time to the “Loop” from either ORD or MDW is roughly equal, and equally convenient with train stops at each airport doorstep. I think MDW is historically more LCC-oriented, so F9 might attract more pax there.
I don’t think WN will view this entry as a significant threat, at least no more than UA views WN as a threat in ORD and IAH.

I wonder how long before F9 leaves SFO for OAK or SJC. Seems like it's leaving all the other more expensive primary airports.

orlandocfi wrote:

marcogr12 wrote:

Is MDW more easily accessible from downtown Chicago than ORD with public transportation?

Travel time to the “Loop” from either ORD or MDW is roughly equal, and equally convenient with train stops at each airport doorstep.

Travel time to ORD on the CTA is at least 20 minutes longer to ORD than MDW, and for F9 passengers there is the additional travel time to transfer from Terminal 2 to terminal 5 via the ATS. Somewhat offsetting this is the Blue Line CTA station is close to terminal 2 at ORD, while the walk from the MDW orange line station to the MDW terminal requires a fairly long walk through the parking garage.

For Chicago, people always like to discuss time from MDW / ORD to the loop business district downtown to prove that one airport is better than the other. But having lived many years in Chicago, what it really comes down to, in my opinion, is where you're going and what you're doing in Chicago. If you're a tourist or business person coming to Chicago and staying in a downtown hotel, then I do think it's a toss - up. REally comes down to flight schedules and fares. Then you're just splitting hairs with regards to timing to/ from the airports and accessability.
I lived on the North side of the city - in Lakeview. Getting to/ from either airport was never quite a picnic, but in general I found ORD a tad quicker than going south to MDW. If you live further north or in Northern suburbs, or your business activities take you to Northern suburbs, ORD tended to be the better option. If you're in some western suburbs/ areas or city areas, or in the southern areas of the city/ southern suburbs, then perhaps MDW was better.
Bottom line - there's no one size fits all as to which is the better airport, and it really all comes down to a combination of factors including destination/ home base in the Chicago area, where you're traveling, schedules, and perhaps carrier loyalty.

kbmiflyer wrote:

orlandocfi wrote:

marcogr12 wrote:

Is MDW more easily accessible from downtown Chicago than ORD with public transportation?

Travel time to the “Loop” from either ORD or MDW is roughly equal, and equally convenient with train stops at each airport doorstep.

Travel time to ORD on the CTA is at least 20 minutes longer to ORD than MDW, and for F9 passengers there is the additional travel time to transfer from Terminal 2 to terminal 5 via the ATS. Somewhat offsetting this is the Blue Line CTA station is close to terminal 2 at ORD, while the walk from the MDW orange line station to the MDW terminal requires a fairly long walk through the parking garage.

kiowa wrote:

Interesting the Frontier is challenging the monopoly in MDW.

There is no monopoly when one of the five largest airports in the country and nearly 4x the passenger volume is 20 miles away. ORD competes with MDW just fine.

How F9 balances routes and frequencies between ORD and MDW will be interesting to see.

jasoncrh wrote:

For Chicago, people always like to discuss time from MDW / ORD to the loop business district downtown to prove that one airport is better than the other. But having lived many years in Chicago, what it really comes down to, in my opinion, is where you're going and what you're doing in Chicago. If you're a tourist or business person coming to Chicago and staying in a downtown hotel, then I do think it's a toss - up. REally comes down to flight schedules and fares. Then you're just splitting hairs with regards to timing to/ from the airports and accessability.
I lived on the North side of the city - in Lakeview. Getting to/ from either airport was never quite a picnic, but in general I found ORD a tad quicker than going south to MDW. If you live further north or in Northern suburbs, or your business activities take you to Northern suburbs, ORD tended to be the better option. If you're in some western suburbs/ areas or city areas, or in the southern areas of the city/ southern suburbs, then perhaps MDW was better.
Bottom line - there's no one size fits all as to which is the better airport, and it really all comes down to a combination of factors including destination/ home base in the Chicago area, where you're traveling, schedules, and perhaps carrier loyalty.

I'd add mode of transportation to the airport to your list, especially for folks on the north side. People who use transit to the airport might prefer MDW because the choices are either a bus west to the Blue Line or going downtown on the Red Line or Brown Line, whereas those who drive or Uber are more likely to prefer ORD because it's closer.