Frontier Airlines' pullout leaves Delaware with no flights

Ben Mutzabaugh | The News Journal of Wilmington (Del.)

WILMINGTON, Del. – Frontier Airlines quietly pulled the plug on commercial airline service out of Wilmington's New Castle Airport last week – almost two years to the day after its first flight out of Delaware.

"Frontier has pulled out of [New Castle Airport] because it wasn't a profitable operation," company spokesman Jim Faulkner said in an email. "If market conditions change, we may look at it again in the future."

Faulkner's statement was the only public notice of Frontier's withdrawal.

Frontier was the only carrier flying to the airport (code: ILG), and its exit leaves Delaware as the only U.S. state without regularly scheduled passenger airline service.

For Frontier, its pull-out from Delaware did not result in the cancellation of any flights because the Denver-based airline had already stopped providing service out of New Castle Airport in April. That's when Frontier suspended its last two remaining routes – cuts the company initially described as "seasonal."

The suspension of those routes followed earlier service cuts and repeated changes in the airline's offering of destinations, some of which left travelers holding tickets for flights that no longer existed.

"We are disappointed with Frontier's apparent decision not to return to [New Castle] Airport," said Stephen Williams, director of airports for the Delaware River & Bay Authority, which operates New Castle Airport. "We want to thank our customers for choosing [New Castle] Airport and we appreciate Frontier's willingness to initiate service at our airport in 2013."

Delaware Economic Development Director Alan Levin said he was not surprised by Frontier's withdrawal.

"Truthfully, they did not make a firm commitment to the service," he said. "When you continue to change your offerings, people will lose faith in what is being provided. When I book a ticket, I want to know I'm going to be getting on a plane without the flight being canceled."

As late as November, the airline had been vowing to return with nonstop service to at least one destination in Florida later this year.

The first hint those service cuts had become permanent came Thursday when the Denver-based airline updated its online flight schedule through Jan. 4. Travelers looking to book a local flight to Florida over the holidays instead found that ILG Wilmington/Philadelphia New Castle Airport – the name the company used to identify the facility – had been removed from the website entirely.

Privately, the airline telegraphed its departure from the Delaware airport on Monday when it sent an email stating it would not be renewing its year-to-year lease for space inside the terminal, which was set to expire on June 30, Williams said.

"I met with some of their people at a conference a couple of weeks ago, and they said they would be making a decision soon," he said. "But officially, there's been no notification that they're ending service."

Frontier Airlines is the seventh airline to attempt commercial passenger service at New Castle Airport since the 1960s when it was called the Greater Wilmington Airport.

United Airlines and regional carriers flying for Delta and US Airways have all come and gone in recent decades. Now-defunct Skybus Airlines served the airport for about a month in 2008.

Despite those loses, Williams said passenger counts on Frontier's flights to and from Wilmington "proved beyond a doubt" that scheduled commercial service at New Castle Airport is "both viable and attractive."

He provided data compiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation that shows flights to and from seven of Frontier's eight destinations at the start of 2015 were more than 80% full, with an average of more than 140 people on flights to and from six of those routes.

The number of passengers boarding Frontier's planes at New Castle County Airport per month exceeded 10,000 from May to August last year – about the time the airline began eliminating most of its service routes to and from the airport.

"We continue to explore other opportunities to attract and retain scheduled commercial air service to ILG, and we will be ready to accommodate those airlines when they come," Williams said in an email.

That includes proceeding with a planned expansion of the terminal parking lot, he said.

Levin said he does not know what else the state or the DRBA can do to help retain the next commercial airline that agrees to provide service at the airport.

"The DRBA and the state tourism office did everything they could to support this effort," he said of Frontier. "We never pulled back on anything, including advertising and website support."

Frontier first began selling round-trip tickets ranging from $98 to $198 on its 168-seat Airbus 320 aircraft in April 2013, with flights to Chicago; Houston; Denver; and Orlando and Tampa, Florida. Frontier's first flight out of New Castle Airport took off on July 1 that year with 150 passengers bound for Chicago.

The new arrangement appeared to be working when the airline announced in early 2014 that it was adding flights to Atlanta; Detroit; and Fort Myers, Florida.

But things began to change after Republic Airways Holdings, which acquired the company in a 2009 bankruptcy auction, sold the airline to Indigo Partners for a reported $145 million.

Soon after, Frontier announced it would be transitioning to an ultra low-cost carrier, a term used to describe airlines that charge low-based fares with add-on charges for food, carry-on bags and other services.

Last summer, the airline announced it would be suspending service to Atlanta, Chicago, Denver and Fort Myers, starting in December.

Those suspensions – also described as "seasonal" – were later moved up to October, leaving customers holding tickets for canceled flights, many planned around Thanksgiving. Several of those ticket holders reported hour-long waits on the phone to get refunds or being required to pay the difference between direct and connect service flights.

Beverly Baxter said she and her family frequently used Frontier until the airline canceled a flight her son and his family booked from Denver to New Castle for Thanksgiving. The airline refunded their money, but the cancellation forced the family to buy tickets with another airline at double the initial price.

"I'm not crying," the Brandywine Hundred-area resident said of Frontier's departure. "It's become a joke in my family, but none of us will ever fly Frontier again, even if we can get a connecting flight to Philly."

In November, all four suspended routes at New Castle Airport were canceled entirely. That left flights only to Orlando and Tampa, which Frontier then suspended two months ago.

Since late 2014, Frontier has instead offered the routes it eliminated from Wilmington from nearby Philadelphia International Airport. The New Castle Airport near Wilmington is less than 30 miles from Philadelphia International and less than 40 miles from Center City Philadelphia.

Frontier has continued to expand in Philadelphia, adding routes to Minneapolis/St. Paul and Charlotte as well as to Mexico.

In recent months, Frontier has undertaken other cost-cutting efforts as part of its transition to an ultra-low cost carrier, including layoffs at its largest base in Denver and widespread elimination of smaller flights at airports throughout the country.

Frontier CEO Dave Siegel also resigned last month following the release of new federal and industry reports ranking the airline among the worst in the nation in terms of customer satisfaction and on-time performance.

Today in the Sky editor Ben Mutzabaugh contributed to this report. The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., is owned by Gannett, parent company of USA TODAY . Gannett newspaper stories occasionally are used in Ben Mutzabaugh's Today in the Sky blog. You can follow the author of this story, News Journal reporter Scott Goss on Twitter at @ScottGossDel.