While no non-stop service has ever existed in the market, I wonder if MKE-MSY might be a preemptive strike by AirTran. Word on the street is that Frontier's MCI-MSY is booking very well. Given this, it's entirely possible Frontier was giving some consideration to adding seasonal MKE-MSY service. With AirTran announcing the market, does the route now look much less appealing for Frontier?
Sarasota is interesting, but it does have the benefit of being on the Gulf Coast (favored over the Atlantic side by people living in the Midwest) so that might help.
Both routes appear to be timed for connections and utilize gate space in MKE during non-peak times.
These two routes are certainly interesting additions. I thought AirTran would have gone after lower hanging fruit.
What, if anything, will Frontier do?