Frontier Airlines has announced that it will open a flight crew base at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). The base will open in May 2023, bringing 120 pilots and 220 flight attendants. The airline expects the base to provide more than $78 million per year in wages. The new domicile will be accompanied by increased routes serviced from DFW.

Texas crew domicile

The added domicile will give Frontier more flexibility in scheduling routes while giving its flight crews another base option. The airline has stated that many crew members have expressed a desire to be based in Texas. It believes the added jobs the domicile will bring will greatly benefit the airport and the local community. The President and CEO of Frontier Airlines, Barry Biffle, stated,

"We are thrilled to partner with the outstanding leadership at DFW to bring new jobs and meaningful economic impact to the Dallas Fort Worth community,

"Opening a crew base here demonstrates our strong commitment to continued growth and expanded service. Frontier is an ultra-low cost carrier and consumers appreciate the value offered by our 'Low Fares Done Right' approach to air travel now more than ever."

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Added routes

The Denver-based air carrier plans to double its presence at DFW over the next five years. The airline has been steadily increasing the number of flights offered from DFW while adding new destinations over the past several years. It currently operates flights to 14 destinations from the Texas airport. The ultra-low-cost carrier plans to add five more destinations in Spring 2023. The additional routes will bring the total number of destinations it services from the airport to 19.

These routes will connect passengers at DFW to New York's LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Orange County's John Wayne Airport (SNA), Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU), and Jamaica's Sangster International Airport (MBJ).

Expanding presence

Frontier has been expanding its services exponentially across the nation over the past year as it is seeing a strong recovery since the pandemic. It has already opened three other domiciles in the past two years. It opened one in Atlanta and another in Tampa in 2021 before opening one in Phoenix earlier this year. This new crew base will make Frontier one of the most prominent players at DFW.

Being an ultra-low-cost carrier, Frontier is looking to secure a larger portion of the air travel market at DFW by offering lower fares than other carriers. These low fares specifically target leisure travelers looking to save the most on airfare. These low fares put Frontier in a strong position at the airport as DFW boasts higher-than-average ticket prices. The national average ticket price for a domestic flight in the second quarter of 2022 was $398, whereas the DFW average was $416.

These lower prices and expanding services may threaten the ticket sales of the airport's dominant airline, American Airlines. American, the world's largest airline, is headquartered at DFW. It is unlikely that the new crew base and routes would significantly hurt American's global operations. However, the behemoth airline may notice a significant decline in ticket sales at DFW for routes serviced by Frontier.

What do you think of this new crew base? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: The Dallas Morning News

• 

  Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  DFW/KDFW

  Country:

  United States

  CEO:

  Sean Donohue

  Passenger Count :

  62,465,756 (2021)

  Runways :

  13L/31R - 2743m (9,000 ft) | 13R/31L - 2,834m (9,300 ft) | 17L/35R - 2,590m (8500 ft) | 17C/35C - 4,085m (13,400 ft) | 17R/35L - 4,085m (13,400 ft) | 18L/36R - 4,085m (13,400 ft) | 18R/36L - 4,085m (13,400 ft)

  Terminals:

  Terminal A | Terminal B | Terminal C | Terminal D | Terminal E