Discount carrier Frontier Airlines is beefing up service in New York, planning new nonstop routes to major American Airlines hubs with fares starting under $20.
The airline plans to launch service between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Miami International Airport on March 30.
A roundtrip flight leaving on April 1 and returning a week later was showing as $38 on Frontier’s website for a basic ticket, which doesn’t include a seat assignment or carry-on bag and is nonrefundable. The same trip on those dates on American, which includes a carry-on bag and a nonalcoholic beverage and snack, was going for $142.
Frontier has a base in Miami, but the airport is dominated by American.
Frontier is also launching flights between New York’s Kennedy Airport and Dallas/Fort Worth four times a week, starting April 22.
On May 1, it plans to start daily nonstops between JFK and Los Angeles International Airport.
Frontier has less than a 1% market share of the capacity out of the three main airports serving the New York City area, according to analytics firm Cirium.
It launched JFK service last June and with this spring’s adds, it will have eight flights out of the airport.
Frontier has been upbeat about its expansion and said it plans to get back to generating double-digit profit margins around mid-2025. The ultra-low-cost carrier’s shares are up 17% since the start of the year, and it raised its outlook for the fourth quarter from as little as breakeven to a 4% pretax margin.