Frontier Airlines Eyes Flights to Europe, Hawaii, South America

Frontier Airlines’ CEO has confirmed that he would be interested in entering one of the most turbulent markets in the industry. Flights from the U.S. to Europe would be made possible with a delivery of 18 Airbus A321XLR aircraft that the airline has on order.

The long-haul, low-cost, transatlantic market has been fraught with complications and issues for other long-haul, low-cost contenders. No matter how sure previous airlines, such as Norwegian, Iceland Express, Primera Air, and WOW, were that they’d succeed, they all failed to make the routes financially viable.

Let’s take a closer look at Frontier’s plan.

Frontier Airlines Could Be the Next Transatlantic Contender

When Frontier takes delivery of its first A321XLR in 2026, the aircraft’s 4,700-nautical-mile range means they will be able to carry out transatlantic flights. 

Even when full with passengers, luggage, and cargo, the aircraft would be able to complete nonstop flights from the East Coast to various popular destinations in Europe. 

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“I was in Toulouse three weeks ago and we were going through what the range enabled you to do from various cities in the northeast United States,” said Barry Biffle, CEO of Frontier Airlines. “Effectively you’d be able to go from Philadelphia (PHL) to everything in the UK, Scotland and Ireland and, of course, you can get into mainland Europe.”

Biffle only mentioned transatlantic departures from Philadelphia, but the aircraft’s range would bring nonstop transatlantic flights from other Frontier bases such as Cleveland (CLE) and even Trenton (TTN), should there be enough demand.

If successful, Frontier’s possible entrance into the transatlantic market could really shake things up for the dozens of legacy carriers already operating the routes.

South America and Hawaii Could Also Welcome Frontier

South America and Hawaii could also be on the cards, with Biffle’s sights set on Miami (MIA) as a main departure point for Frontier’s Airbus A321XLRs into South America. 

“From Miami, you can pretty much reach just about anywhere in South America. It also enables us to do other interesting things. You can fly from the [U.S.] west coast to the Caribbean.” explained Biffle.

Biffle even hinted that there might even be a premium product in the future for Frontier.

Final Thoughts

While at this point there’s no confirmation of if or when these routes will come to fruition, Frontier will be taking delivery of at least 18 Airbus A321XLRs and the airline’s CEO is seriously considering these possibilities, which means that flying to Europe with Frontier Airlines has every chance of becoming a reality.