Frontier announces major expansion for Atlanta

Ben Mutzabaugh | USA TODAY

Frontier Airlines announced a major expansion Monday at the world's busiest airport, saying it would nearly triple its number of destinations there between now and the end of April. Frontier also said it would expand its schedule in Cleveland.

In Atlanta, Frontier is officially unveiling six new routes. Combined with four others already in Frontier's schedules, the expansion will give the self-described "ultra low-cost carrier" 16 nonstop destinations from Atlanta. That's up from the six it currently offers.

Frontier's new Atlanta routes that will launch April 30 are: Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York LaGuardia, New Orleans and Minneapolis/St. Paul. The carrier will fly one daily round-trip flight to each.

Frontier will go head-to-head with Atlanta-based Delta on all of those routes. In fact, four of those six new routes (Cincinnati, Los Angeles, LaGuardia and Minneapolis/St. Paul) are to airports that are either hubs or "focus cities" for Delta. That will likely put industry observers on alert for a possible competitive response from Delta.

Already, Delta's Atlanta has faced another significant incursion by another "ultra low cost" carrier. It was just last week that Spirit Airlines announced nine new nonstop routes from the city, a move that will give it 15 destinations out of Atlanta.

Frontier's six new routes will join four others that Frontier will begin flying from Atlanta next month. On March 6, Frontier will begin offering daily service between Atlanta and Austin, Indianapolis and Miami. And on March 13, Frontier adds daily nonstop service to Philadelphia.

And Frontier's Atlanta growth also may foretell a new battle between ultra low-cost rivals there. Once all of their new Atlanta routes begin, Frontier and Spirit will compete head-to-head on six routes (Chicago O'Hare, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando and Philadelphia) Additionally, the carriers will operate two Atlanta routes to airports that overlap in other markets. Frontier flies to Miami and Washington Dulles while Spirit flies to Fort Lauderdale and Baltimore/Washington, respectively.

Regardless of the potential competition, Frontier struck a positive tone about its looming Atlanta routes.

"We are excited to announce new low-fare service for Atlanta with flights available for as low as $19," Frontier President Barry Biffle says in a statement referencing short-term promotional fares for the routes.

"The Atlanta community has responded positively to our Low Fares Done Right philosophy allowing us to quickly grow to 16 non-stop destinations," Biffle adds. "We are pleased to help make travel to and from Atlanta more affordable than ever, and provide even more customers the opportunity to travel."

Frontier's six current destinations from Atlanta are: Chicago O'Hare, Cleveland, Denver, Orlando, Trenton, N.J., and Washington Dulles.

Meanwhile, in Cleveland, Frontier plans to expand its schedule on four existing routes to Florida.

Effective April 30, Frontier will make the following schedule changes in Cleveland:

- Fort Myers and Tampa will go to daily service, up from the current schedule of three and four flights a week, respectively

- Orlando is currently daily and will move to twice-daily service

- Las Vegas is currently daily service, and will go to twice-daily five days a week