Frontier has grown enormously at Miami and it is now the third-largest airline at the airport. This week, it inaugurated two new destinations from Miami while announcing four more routes. Its route map now totals 34 – up by 20 since 2019.

It has been an important week for Frontier at Miami. The ultra-low-cost-carrier (ULCC) inaugurated Guatemala City on April 12th, and then San Salvador launched three days later. San Salvador's departure was especially pertinent because the captain of the flight, Carlos Cartagena, originated from the city.

Both routes currently operate twice-weekly. However, Guatemala City will rise to three-weekly in September, while San Salvador will grow to four-weekly in the same month.

Frontier to Guatemala City
Frontier started Miami to Guatemala City on April 12th, becoming the second airline on the 1,017-mile route after American. Photo: Frontier.

More routes announced

Frontier has also announced a further four routes from Miami this summer, all to capture peak travel demand:

  • Myrtle Beach: five-weekly from June 10th, ending September 6th. No direct competition
  • Nassau: four-weekly from June 24th, ending September 7th. Head-to-head with American (49-weekly) and Bahamasair (three)
  • San Jose (Costa Rica): twice-weekly from July 2nd, ending September 6th. Competing with American (21-weekly) and Avianca Costa Rica (seven)
  • St. Maarten: once-weekly from July 10th, ending September 4th. Head-to-head with American (seven-weekly)

Lester Sola, Miami's Director and CEO, stated:

"We proudly welcome this expansion of flights by Frontier, and we look forward to seeing their presence grow even stronger.

"Frontier has risen to become one of our busiest airlines in terms of seat capacity, and we appreciate their commitment of not only maintaining Miami service throughout the pandemic but continuing to expand their route network here."

Frontier
The airline will be left with only one Airbus A319 once the third quarter starts. Photo: Getty Images.

Miami gets a new destination

Myrtle Beach is a new destination for Miami, although Spirit has served it non-stop from nearby Ft. Lauderdale for years. Looking at booking data obtained from OAG Traffic Analyzer, around 7,000 round-trip point-to-point passengers flew Myrtle Beach to Miami in 2019. Demand should be straightforward for Frontier to stimulate.

Frontier has 34 routes from Miami
Frontier will serve 34 destinations from Miami this year. Philadelphia is #1, with Atlanta, Orlando, Newark, Denver, La Guardia, O'Hare (where this photo was taken), Las Vegas, Baltimore, and Boston completing the top-10. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.

Frontier's big Miami growth

Frontier entered Miami in 2014, an airport previously ignored by low-cost carriers given much higher charges compared to Ft. Lauderdale. Its routes that first year were Chicago O'Hare, Denver, New York La Guardia, Philadelphia, and Washington Dulles. By 2019, the ULCC's Miami route map had increased to 14 destinations, with four of the 'original five' still served (Dulles was cut in 2015).

Ontario is one of 34 Frontier will now serve from Miami. It will operate four-weekly from November 18th. Image: GCMap.

In 2021, Frontier's Miami route map comprises 34 destinations, including 11 across the Caribbean and Central America. Over 2.4 million seats are expected this year, up by 266% over 2019. Frontier has become Miami's third-largest airline, up from ninth two years ago. Still, its share remains at less than 5%; such is the dominance of American (67%).

Frontier at Miami
Delta now has around a million more seats at Miami than Frontier. Source: OAG Schedules Analyzer.

Miami is Frontier's fifth-largest airport this year out of some 109 to be served, up from 18th in 2019. Now, only Denver, Orlando, Las Vegas, and Philadelphia rank higher.