Air travel is finally picking back up again after the COVID pandemic effectively halted most passengers' travel plans. But now travelers are facing new challenges, including canceled flights. Both Southwest and American Airlines each made nearly 2,000 last-minute flight cancellations in the last few months, stranding people in airports across the country. And it's no longer just certain flights getting cut because of weather and staffing shortages: Many airlines are taking this time to restructure their service on a larger scale, pulling entire flight routes from cities. In fact, one popular airline just announced that it is permanently cutting all of its flights to two of the biggest airports in the U.S. soon. Read on to find out if your travel could be affected next year.
RELATED: United Airlines Will No Longer Fly to These 11 Cities, Starting Nov. 30.
Frontier is ending all service to two major airports next year.
iStockFrontier Airlines will withdraw its services from two major airports next year, the company announced in an earnings call this month, as reported by Insider. The airline will cut all flights to and from both Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, and Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., in 2022. According to Insider, Frontier's website indicates that the last flight available out of Dulles will be Jan. 4. An exact date has not been given for its final departure from Newark, but during the earnings call, the company said it would cut all flights from both airports by March 2022.
RELATED: American Airlines Is Cutting These 27 Flight Routes, Starting Jan. 4.
The company cited costs as the reason for the cuts.
iStockFrontier's split from Newark was a quick one, as the airline just joined the airport's line-up two years ago, according to Business Insider. The company's been operating out of Dulles since 2014, as reported by the Loudoun Times-Mirror. But during the earnings call, Daniel Shurz, Frontier's senior vice president of commercial, confirmed that the airport costs at these two locations were getting too high for the company to justify continuing operations. "We're taking action on the significant increase we're seeing in the cost pressures at airports," Shurz said.
Frontier also ended service at two other major airports earlier this year.
iStockThis is not Frontier's first major cut in 2021, however. According to Airways Magazine, the airline just stopped serving Los Angeles International Airport in September. And it also cut service from San Jose, California, this year, according to Shurz.
"We have so many growth opportunities, as we said multiple times this year. We have lots of places to put our aircraft and so we’re finding more cost-effective places in the short term," Shurz said during the Nov. 2021 earnings call. "And look, a number of the airports we’ve made decisions on are in multi-airport cities and there are much more cost effective airports for us to fly from in those cities in those metro regions. And if that’s if that’s ultimately what we have to do for the long term, we’ll do it for the long term."
RELATED: For more travel news delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.
The airline said it might reconsider these decisions at a later date.
ShutterstockBut this doesn't necessarily mean Frontier will never service any of these airports again. During the earnings call, Shurz confirmed that there is potential for the airline to bring flights back to any of the cut locations at some point, "as with any airport, if the fare and cost relationship improves, we will revisit the decision," he said.
"Yes, if costs come down and I think some airports will see costs come down we will be back. But if costs don't come down we will stick with lower cost airports," Shurz explained. He added that he thinks it is likely that certain locations will rectify their high costs in order to regain airlines that are leaving as a result. "We're going to see airports where ... I think they realize with their costs [are] driving service away and they'll try and figure out ways to make it more cost effective," he said.
RELATED: Never Do This When Your Flight Is Canceled, Travel Expert Warns.
