Frontier Airlines has added three new routes from San Diego, offering travelers additional options to fly to Austin, Chicago, and Salt Lake City. All three destinations are already served with a fair share of weekly frequencies by their existing operators.
A trio of routes from San Diego
On March 25, Frontier Airlines announced that in June, it would launch three routes from San Diego International Airport (SAN) and add connections to Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), and Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC).
The carrier’s flights to Chicago will launch on June 12, while itineraries to Austin and Salt Lake City will begin on June 13, according to its statement.
Josh Flyr, the Vice President of Network and Operations Design at Frontier Airlines, said that the airline’s presence in San Diego is growing with the trio of new routes.
“With Frontier’s trademark low fares available on eight nonstop routes from SAN, now is a better time than ever for consumers in Southern California to make Frontier their airline of choice.”
Frontier Airlines will serve Chicago daily, while flights to Austin and Salt Lake City will be operated four and three times per week, respectively.
Competition-heavy
However, data from the aviation analytics company Cirium's Diio Mi airline planning tool showed that, in June, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines will be competing against Frontier Airlines on all three routes.
During the month, Alaska Airlines has scheduled daily flights from San Diego to Salt Lake City and 13 weekly departures to Austin, while American Airlines has 35 weekly departures to Chicago-O’Hare.
Delta Air Lines also has 35 weekly departures to Salt Lake City, with United Airlines mirroring American Airlines’ schedule to Chicago O’Hare with 35 weekly departures to the airport in Illinois.
Lastly, Southwest Airlines has planned daily flights to Salt Lake City, 30 weekly departures to Austin, and 21 to Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW), which is Chicago’s second airport.
In June 2024, the five airlines, as well as Spirit Airlines, which operated flights from San Diego to Salt Lake City between June 2024 and August 2024, averaged a load factor of 84.4% on all three routes. This includes Southwest Airlines’ flights to Chicago Midway.
Spirit Airlines averaged a load factor of 58.38% in June 2024 and 65.72% throughout the three months that it had operated flights from San Diego to Salt Lake City, while Alaska Airlines had the second-worst result in June 2024, with an average load factor of 71.75%.
In contrast, American Airlines’ Airbus A321 and Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which operated itineraries between San Diego and Chicago O’Hare in June 2024, were, on average, 89.77% full, according to Cirium's Diio Mi.
Adjustments in San Diego
In addition, Cirium’s Diio Mi showed that without the three additional routes, Frontier Airlines has actually reduced its capacity from San Diego in June following its adjustments on specific routes.
This includes reducing flights to Denver International Airport (DEN, five fewer weekly flights), to Pheonix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX, seven fewer weekly flights), and to El Paso International Airport (ELP) completely.
With the addition of the trio of newly announced routes, Frontier Airlines’ schedule from San Diego should have one fewer weekly flight compared to June 2024.
