Pensacola International Airport will gain a sixth airline next spring when low-fare carrier Frontier Airlines flies into town as part of a 21-city expansion announced Tuesday.
Airline officials said nonstop service between Pensacola and the airline’s hub at Denver International Airport would begin in the spring of 2018. Frontier will serve a total of 82 cities following the huge expansion, which is expected to double the total number of routes in the airline’s network.
To celebrate the announcement, Frontier is offering limited-time fares starting from $39.
“We are proud to announce the nationwide expansion of our unique brand of Low Fares Done Right which will empower millions more people to afford to fly,” said Barry Biffle, president and CEO of Frontier Airlines. “We project this will save our customers over a billion dollars annually on their flights. These new flights will allow us to serve even more of America and make flying a truly affordable option.”
Founded in 1994, Frontier currently operates a fleet of over 50 Airbus A319, A320, and A321 aircraft, with nearly 100 new planes on order.
Flight to eight of the new destinations will be available for sale Tuesday, but Pensacola isn’t among them. Specific details about pricing of the frequency of the new service haven’t yet been released, but airline officials said tickets for the cities launching in spring 2018 will be on sale soon.
“Customers will benefit not only from the broad new selection of nonstop routes, but our growing network will provide more than 1,000 new connecting route options,” Biffle added. “By taking advantage of our natural share of connecting passengers, we can offer our low fares to even more of America. This is particularly important through our largest hub and our home in Denver.”
Pensacola International Airport. (Drew Buchanan/The Pulse)
In a statement, Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward said welcomed today’s announcement and is looking forward to working with Frontier.
The largest airport between New Orleans and Jacksonville, Pensacola International Airport currently has flights to 17 destinations served by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Silver Airways, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines. The airport set an all-time traffic record last month, with a total of 162,618 passengers arriving or departing from the airport in June.
While Frontier is new to Pensacola International Airport, this won’t be the airport’s first flight to Denver. Southwest is currently operating nonstop flights to Denver on Saturdays and Sundays as part of a seasonal service that’s set to end August 14.