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Frontier Airlines will eliminate five non-stop routes from Milwaukee, which will result in the loss of almost half of its daily departures from Mitchell International Airport, the company announced late Thursday.

According to a news release, the airline said the reductions are necessary to improve profitability and "generate greater job opportunities and security for the majority of our 5,000 employees."

Effective April 16, the company will suspend non-stop flights from Milwaukee to Dallas/Fort Worth, Grand Rapids, Kansas City, Philadelphia and Phoenix. In addition, Milwaukee-to-Newark service will be suspended effective April 1.

The release did not specify whether the Milwaukee-to-Newark service is non-stop and a Frontier spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a call and email late Thursday.

As a result of the cutbacks, Frontier said, daily departures out of Milwaukee will be reduced from 32 to 18.