Barry Biffle is bullish on Pittsburgh.
A week after starting flights to five destinations from Pittsburgh International Airport, the Frontier Airlines CEO sees the potential for more growth in the Steel City.
After all, the Denver-based ultra low-fare carrier has 80 new fuel-efficient Airbus 320 jets on order, with the first arriving in September, and is looking to double its size. So why not Pittsburgh?
“We’re constantly looking for new opportunities for capacity. We have a lot of aircraft deliveries. I’m looking for homes for planes. If things work well, we’ll do more of them,” Mr. Biffle said.
But first things first. In order to get more flights, the ones that Frontier launched last week to Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas and Orlando must perform well, the executive stressed.
So far the results have been encouraging. Mr. Biffle said he flew into Pittsburgh from Denver on Wednesday night aboard a full airplane. Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, said the flights to all five destinations have been about 85 percent full on average so far.
“They’re doing well and we’re really happy about that,” she said.
The airline already has taken a pretty big gamble on Pittsburgh with the five markets it is serving from the airport. “This is probably the biggest expansion from any one city that we’ve done since I’ve worked for the company,” Mr. Biffle said.
Like Ms. Cassotis, he believes Pittsburgh is underserved.
“If you look at the things that are happening in the city, it’s going to be bigger than it’s ever been and more successful and more vibrant from an economic perspective in the next 10 years than it’s ever been before,” he said. “We can only believe that if we service the void that exists today that we can grow with you and that’s what we’re excited about.”
With basic fares starting as low as $44 one way, Mr. Biffle believes Frontier will be able to “stimulate a lot more traffic than you’ve been seeing” in the market, providing more opportunities for growth.
While the carrier faces competition from other airlines on all five of the routes it is flying from the Pittsburgh airport, Mr. Biffle is unfazed by that.
He noted that all five are popular destinations from Pittsburgh and that three of them are crew or maintenance bases for his airline, increasing reliability and making delays or cancellations less likely.
“You don’t have anyone with fares this low with this level of service,” he maintained. “You don’t have to compromise on reliability just to get a low fare.”
It’s no secret that Ms. Cassotis has been trying to upgrade nonstop service to the West Coast from Pittsburgh, including more flights to San Francisco and Los Angeles, and new ones to San Diego and Seattle.
With its headquarters in Denver, Frontier has a large presence out West, seemingly making for a good match. The airline also has received approval to fly to Cuba from Philadelphia. Only one airline, American, now flies to Philadelphia from Pittsburgh, perhaps leaving an opening for Frontier to add service to that market.
While Mr. Biffle said the airline would look at “all the opportunities,” right now, “We have no plans beyond the five routes that we started. We’re going to base the success that we see there on the types of markets that will grow in the future.”
Still, depending on how well those flights do, the carrier could be in a position to consider adding more service from Pittsburgh as early as September or October, he noted.
Systemwide, Frontier currently serves about 180 routes with 57 planes. It began its transition to an ultra low-fare carrier two years ago after being purchased by Indigo Partners, a private equity firm.
The change didn’t come without some turbulence. At one time, Frontier registered more complaints from passengers than any other airline and its on-time performance wasn’t that great, either.
Mr. Biffle said the airline has turned things around over the last two years. Complaints have been cut by two-thirds, he said, and Frontier was fourth in on-time performance among carriers through the first four months of 2016.
Like Spirit and Allegiant airlines, Frontier offers travelers a very base fare with added fees for items like seat assignments and checked bags. While the practice has led to charges of “nickel and diming” passengers by some observers, Mr. Biffle called it the “most consumer-friendly model there is. Period.”
He said travelers are only paying for what they want or need, with no built-in extra charges.
“We believe this is the right model for consumers and enables the most people to travel, and that’s best for the economy, best for jobs, and we think it is here to stay and probably will be here for a long time,” he said.
The airline also offers the “works,” an all-inclusive fare that allows passengers one carry-on, one checked bag, priority boarding, the ability to select a seat, and no change fees. The average one-way “works” fare is $115, Mr. Biffle said.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.
First Published: June 24, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
