April 04, 2024
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Frontier Airlines is in the midst of a major expansion at Philadelphia International Airport. New nonstop flights will be added in June to Buffalo, New York, and Norfolk, Virginia.
Frontier Airlines will begin offering nonstop flights from Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to Buffalo, New York, and Norfolk, Virginia, in June, adding two more destinations to a growing list of cities the budget carrier serves out of Philly.
Trips to Norfolk International Airport will start June 5 and flights to Buffalo Niagara International Airport will begin June 13. Both flights will operate three times per week, with introductory fares as low as $19.
"We’re thrilled to add additional service from Philadelphia, which is rapidly becoming one of our largest operational bases,” said Josh Flyr, Frontier's vice president of network and operations design.
In May, Frontier will begin offering nonstop service to another 12 destinations:
• Portland, Maine (three times weekly)
• Knoxville, Tennessee (three times weekly)
• Milwaukee (three times weekly)
• Indianapolis (three times weekly)
• Columbus, Ohio (three times weekly)
• Kansas City, Missouri (three times weekly)
• Pensacola, Florida (three times weekly)
• St. Louis (four times weekly)
• Detroit (daily)
• Chicago (daily)
• Minneapolis (twice weekly)
• Pittsburgh (twice weekly)
With the new routes added Thursday, Frontier will serve a total of 42 destinations out of Philadelphia. The airline expects to have a daily average of about 44 flights this summer, which would be a 47% increase over last year. It's the airport's biggest carrier behind American Airlines, which uses PHL as a hub and had a peak of 265 daily flights last summer. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, American Airlines had a summer peak of 410 daily flights in 2019.
Although PHL still has fewer flights and passengers than it did before the pandemic, it saw a significant uptick in travel during the fourth quarter of last year. In December, the airport said its projected 1.1 million travelers during the holiday season was on track to be just 5% below its passenger volume during the same period in 2019.
