Two of the five flights launched by Frontier Airlines from Pittsburgh International Airport last June with great fanfare didn’t last long — all of about four months.
After suspending service to Chicago and Atlanta at the end of October in what it described as seasonal adjustments, the ultra low-fare carrier confirmed that it will not bring back either flight this spring.
Rich Oliver, a Frontier spokesman, said the routes didn’t perform as expected during the time they operated from the Findlay airport. “We were able to put the planes where there’s more demand is what it comes down to,” he said.
The decision comes only months after Denver-based Frontier flew into Pittsburgh with high hopes and even hints of possible expansion.
A week after the airline started service, Barry Biffle, its CEO and founder, said in an interview that the carrier could be in a position to consider adding more service from the airport as early as the fall, depending on what happened with the five routes it started.
Instead, Frontier has gone the other way, trimming service.
Frontier flew four times a week to Atlanta and three times a week to Chicago during the flights’ brief runs out of Pittsburgh.
Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which operates Pittsburgh International, said the region isn’t the only one taking a hit.
Frontier, she said, has cut 20 percent of its flights into Atlanta and 40 percent into Chicago. Pittsburgh is one of five cities to see service to Atlanta cut and one of at least 13 to have flights to Chicago eliminated, she added.
“I don’t believe this is about Pittsburgh. I believe it’s about Atlanta and Chicago, and their experience there,” she said.
Likewise, Michael Boyd, a Colorado-based aviation consultant, said the decision is not so much a reflection on Pittsburgh as it is on the airline’s business plan.
Frontier, he said, relies heavily on using ultra low fares to attract people who otherwise would not fly. In the case of Chicago and Atlanta, the carrier apparently did not get enough of those to merit continuation of the service, he said.
Even with the cuts, Pittsburgh, Ms. Cassotis said, is still well represented in both markets, with 11 flights a day to Atlanta, which is served by Delta and Southwest, and 17 to Chicago, which is served by American, United and Southwest.
Frontier was “up against pretty significant competition and they decided they needed to scale back,” she said.
Mr. Oliver said the airline also decided to eliminate service between Atlanta and San Antonio after one season, and between Atlanta and Philadelphia after two seasons.
Not all the news is bad regarding Frontier. In April, the airline will resume its daily flight from Pittsburgh to Denver, which was suspended last Jan. 4. It will remain seasonal.
The carrier, Mr. Oliver said, also plans to keep the Las Vegas and Orlando flights, which operate daily and four times a week, respectively.
Despite the cuts, he did not rule out a possible expansion in the future. “We will continue to look for new route and network opportunities from Pittsburgh as we move forward,” he said.
Likewise, Ms. Cassotis sees more opportunities for Frontier in Pittsburgh. “I’m very interested in continuing those conversations,” she said.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.
First Published: January 4, 2017, 5:00 a.m.
