Frontier Airlines pulling plug on Newark operations

Frontier Airlines will pull out of Newark Airport in February, reducing competition at the United Airlines-dominated airport. 

Daniel Shurz, Frontier’s senior vice president of commercial, confirmed the plan during a company earnings call last week. 

“As with any airport, if the fare and cost relationship improves, we will revisit the decision,” Shurz said. 

According to Cirium flight data, Frontier is scheduled to operate 276 flights from Newark to 10 destinations in December. The carrier will draw down Newark operations in January and is scheduled to make its final Newark departure on Feb. 16.  

Frontier began serving Newark in November 2019, taking over departure and landing slots at the capacity-constrained airport that were left vacant by Southwest’s pullout that same month.

Along with Frontier, low-cost and ultralow-cost carriers at Newark include JetBlue, Spirit, Allegiant and Alaska.  

In September, the FAA announced plans to award 16 additional daily landing slots at Newark to a single low-cost airline, a move that came at the behest of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. district. The move is designed to foster additional competition at Newark. 

The FAA has not yet selected the airline that will receive those slots. 

Shurz said last week that Frontier will also end its its lone remaining Washington Dulles route, which serves Orlando. The carrier’s final Dulles flight is scheduled for Jan. 4, according to Cirium.

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