Frontier Airlines is the United States’ seventh-largest operator based on flights. The ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) has an average of 630 daily movements, up by 12% year-over-year. The exit of the now-defunct Spirit Airlines contributed to the growth.
Frontier currently serves or plans to fly to 85 or so airports. Like any other airline, the ULCC is subject to route and airport churn. It is an inherent part of the business. Not everything will work and aircraft can and should be moved where they make more sense.
29 Airports Have Been Removed From Frontier’s Network
Frontier’s schedule submission to Cirium Diio has been examined. This involved comparing the airline’s served airports between January 2025 and August 2026 with where the operator plans to fly between September 2026 and January 2027. Currently, the carrier’s flights are only scheduled and bookable until the first month of next year. As such, it is possible that the picture will be slightly different beyond January.
Ten of the entries are international. Some others beyond the US border are in the country’s territories in the Caribbean and are, therefore, considered domestic. Some of the international destinations had very few Frontier flights in the analyzed period. For example, Frontier only had eight departures to Barbados between January 2025 and when that route ceased to exist in April last year. Barbados joined the airline’s network in July 2024, with service from San Juan.
End Month (January 2025 To August 2026 Only*)
Barbados, Houston Hobby (TX), Port of Spain, Vail (CO)
Green Bay (WI), Portland (ME), Puerto Plata, St. Croix, St. Thomas
Aruba, Charleston (SC), Harrisburg (PA), Los Cabos, Nassau, Providenciales, Puerto Vallarta, Tucson (AZ), Tulsa (OK)
Corpus Christi (TX), Knoxville (TN), St. Maarten
* Known as of August 25 and subject to change. Anywhere that ended before January 2025 is excluded
Corpus Christi Was Served For Less Than A Year
Like several of the entries, Corpus Christi International Airport (CRP) only saw Frontier for a very short period. The carrier flew to the Texas airport twice-weekly between October 2025 and August 2026, with all flights being from Denver International Airport (DEN). That’s the ULCC’s number one airport for flights. The launch was of historical importance. According to Frontier, it was CRP’s first new nonstop destination in 27 years.
The short-lived nature of the airport pair was despite funding to help lower the risk of starting service. The City of Corpus Christi, Visit Corpus Christi, and local businesses provided a revenue guarantee worth nearly $1.2 million. Frontier would not have seriously considered the link, even with such a low frequency, but for the funding.
Between October 2025 and May 2026 (which is as far as data currently goes), the US Department of Transportation (DOT) shows that Frontier transported 11,963 round-trip passengers. This figure is just a number and says little in itself. When compared to seats for sale, the route’s load factor was an unbelievably low 46.9%. Over half of the seats were empty. Compared to October 2024 to May 2025, when nonstop flights did not exist, local traffic between DEN and CRP grew by 67%. Just in an unsustainable way.
Perhaps not surprisingly, most of them were previously served by Spirit. Find out more here!
Unsurprisingly, Frontier’s existence at Knoxville’s McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) was much longer than it was at CRP. It flew there between June 2011 and August 2026. In this 15-year period, flights existed to Chicago Midway (2014 only) DEN (2011-2026), Orlando International (2012-2013 and again 2017-2024) and Philadelphia (2024 only). Southwest Airlines debuted in TYS in 2026, with routes including DEN.
Between 2011 and 2026, the DOT shows that Frontier transported 564,938 passengers to/from DEN. 81.0% of seats were filled in this entire period, although that fell to a paltry 74.5% in the 12 months to May 2026. In that period, 39,029 passengers were carried. 73.6% of passengers (nearly three in four) only flew between DEN and TYS; they did not connect elsewhere. The remaining 26.4% did transit in DEN, with Salt Lake City being the most popular market.
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