Frontier Airlines will begin offering service on dozens of new routes that don't fit into the discount carrier's standard leisure portfolio.
Frontier has announced 52 routes that will begin in April through June, including significant buildups in Dallas/Fort Worth, Charlotte, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York LaGuardia, Chicago O'Hare and Detroit, all of which serve as a hub for a least one major airline.
"This is a massive expansion of our operation from coast to coast and internationally as part of our focus on growing in underserved and overpriced routes," said Josh Flyr, the carrier's vice president of network and operations design.
Dallas/Fort Worth, an American Airlines hub, will get the most new Frontier routes with 14 flights launching in April and May. Among those are just three to leisure destinations: Puerto Vallarta, San Juan and Fort Myers. Among the other 11 routes are flights to a variety of major hubs such as Detroit, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Charlotte and Houston Bush Intercontinental.
Other new destinations from DFW are Indianapolis; Omaha, Neb.; and Grand Rapids, Mich.
Seven new routes from Charlotte follow a similar pattern.
In an interview with Forbes, Frontier CEO Barry Biffle explained that the ultralow-cost carrier is shifting away from leisure markets that have a glut of capacity. The growth this spring, he said, will be facilitated by reallocating planes from some leisure markets, including Orlando, and by new aircraft deliveries.
"We are pivoting and leaving overcapacity places and going into places where fares are higher. We are concentrating on growth markets," Biffle told Forbes.
The move comes as Frontier, and discount U.S. airlines more broadly, are struggling to achieve profitability in the post-pandemic era, while the major hub-and-spoke airlines aren't.
Frontier had a net loss of $32 million in the third quarter of last year and has not yet reported fourth-quarter results.
Still, the carrier isn't completely ignoring the leisure market in its new spring routes. Tuesday's announcement included eight new routes from San Juan, including three to Florida and two to other Caribbean locales.