Frontier Airlines EarlyReturns - November MKE Stats

Here are the November stats for Milwaukee.

Market share by carrier:

…….. 2011 …….. 2010
….. 33.7% ….. 32.3% ……. AirTran
….. 22.0% ….. 30.2% ……. Frontier
….. 18.0% ….. 15.9% ……. Delta
….. 10.7% ……. 7.9% ……. Southwest
……. 7.0% ……. 6.1% ……. United+Continental
……. 4.6% ……. 3.8% ……. USAirways
……. 3.6% ……. 3.2% ……. American
……. 0.3% ……. 0.3% ……. Air Canada
……. 0.1% ……. 0.3% ……. other


2011 and 2010 traffic numbers:

…….. 2011 …….. 2010
….. 230708 ….. 255156 ……. AirTran
….. 151026 ….. 239279 ……. Frontier
….. 123250 ….. 125990 ……. Delta
…….. 73020 ……. 62632 ……. Southwest
…….. 48166 ……. 48545 ……. United+Continental
…….. 31322 ……. 29828 ……. USAirways
…….. 24379 ……. 25485 ……. American
……….. 2087 ……… 2065 ……. Air Canada
………... 979 ……… 2033 ……. other


Year--over-year change in passengers ranked. Note that some of the carriers (like Delta) with a greater market share still carried fewer passengers in 2011 than 2010, but did not shrink as fast as the overall airport.

….. -88,253 Frontier
….. -24,448 AirTran
……. -2,740 Delta
……. -1,106 Amercian
……. -1,054 other
……….. -379 United+Continental
…………... 22 Air Canada
……... 1,494 USAirways
…... 10,388 Southwest


Finally, here are the totals for MKE as a whole, plus the four previous years to see how they compare.

2011 ..... 684973
2010 ..... 791013 ..... 2011 is 13.4% lower than 2010
2009 ..... 725048 ..... 2011 is 5.5% lower than 2009
2008 ..... 525565 ..... 2011 is 30.3% higher than 2008
2007 ..... 622000 ..... 2011 is 10.1% higher than 2007

Delta is close to the #2 spot again at MKE.

Thanks Knope! Unfortunately F9 will probably continue to decline as the rest of the RJ fleet dries up. Should be interesting to see how things go the next few years depending on how the competition acts.

Delta is close to the #2 spot again at MKE.

DL does have some winter reductions underway at Milwaukee, so Frontier is likely to remain a few notches above Delta for the first few months of 2012.

Thanks Knope! Unfortunately F9 will probably continue to decline as the rest of the RJ fleet dries up. Should be interesting to see how things go the next few years depending on how the competition acts.

Don't forget the effect oil will have on fuel prices. There is talk of gas being around $4.50 a gallon come summer. I hope they are wrong.

Don't forget the effect oil will have on fuel prices. There is talk of gas being around $4.50 a gallon come summer. I hope they are wrong.

Of course that is an issue but it generally effects all the airlines together (plus or minus for some hedging). I'd argue with Frontier's low costs they are one of the best prepared to deal with the inevitability of high oil.

Delta is close to the #2 spot again at MKE.

I long to see that happen, just as it was a relief when Southwest took the #2 spot at DEN.

davy

DL does have some winter reductions underway at Milwaukee, so Frontier is likely to remain a few notches above Delta for the first few months of 2012.

It will be interesting to see what happens come summer.

I've heard Delta plans on putting more frequency/capacity on the MKE-DTW route (8 flights/day with some equipment upgauges as well). Add in the JFK and LGA service and Delta may overtake Frontier for the #2 spot.

Update from the Business Journal of Milwaukee's Rich Rovito:

AirTran Airways’ December 2011 market share at General Mitchell International Airport stood at 33.8 percent, allowing it to maintain a large lead over its closest competitor, Frontier Airlines, which stood at 22.6 percent. AirTran, which has been purchased by Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, had a market share of 33.7 percent in November 2011, compared with 22.1 percent for Frontier, which operates hubs in Milwaukee and Denver.

Atlanta-based Delta Airlines had the third-highest market share at Mitchell in December at 16.4 percent. Southwest stood fourth at 11.1. AirTran and Southwest continue to report separate figures until a single operating certificate is issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. Southwest completed its purchase of AirTran in May 2011 for $1.4 billion. As part of the deal, the AirTran name and brand eventually will disappear as the airline is merged into Southwest.

For all of 2011, AirTran had a market share at Mitchell of 31.9 percent, up from 29.9 percent in 2010. Frontier ranked second at 28.9 percent, down from 33.4 percent in 2010. The 2010 figure for Frontier also included market share for Midwest Airlines, which had been based in Oak Creek. Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc. acquired Frontier and Midwest in separate deals in 2009. Midwest’s operations and brands eventually were absorbed by Frontier.

Delta held the No. 3 spot at Mitchell in 2011 at 14.5 percent, about flat with its prior year market share. Southwest came in fourth at 9 percent, up from 8 percent in 2010.

Here are the December stats for Milwaukee.

Market share by carrier:

…….. 2011 …….. 2010
….. 33.8% ….. 32.9% ……. AirTran
….. 22.6% ….. 30.5% ……. Frontier
….. 16.9% ….. 14.8% ……. Delta
….. 11.1% ……. 8.6% ……. Southwest
……. 7.2% ……. 6.0% ……. United+Continental
……. 4.7% ……. 3.6% ……. USAirways
……. 3.2% ……. 3.1% ……. American
……. 0.3% ……. 0.2% ……. Air Canada
……. 0.1% ……. 0.3% ……. other


2011 and 2010 traffic numbers:

…….. 2011 …….. 2010
….. 220166 ….. 254985 ……. AirTran
….. 147429 ….. 236436 ……. Frontier
….. 110174 ….. 114546 ……. Delta
…….. 72490 ……. 66577 ……. Southwest
…….. 47090 ……. 46343 ……. United+Continental
…….. 30667 ……. 27527 ……. USAirways
…….. 20949 ……. 23687 ……. American
……….. 1704 ……… 1772 ……. Air Canada
………... 882 ……… 2411 ……. other


Year--over-year change in passengers ranked. Note that some of the carriers (like Delta) with a greater market share still carried fewer passengers in 2011 than 2010, but did not shrink as fast as the overall airport.

….. -89,007 Frontier
….. -34,819 AirTran
……. -4,372 Delta
……. -2,738 Amercian
……. -1,529 other
…………..-68 Air Canada
……….. 747 United+Continental
……... 3.140 USAirways
…..... 5,913 Southwest


Finally, here are the totals for MKE as a whole, plus the four previous years to see how they compare.

2011 ….. 651551
2010 ….. 774341 ….. 2011 is 18.8% lower than 2010
2009 ….. 728067 ….. 2011 is 11.7% lower than 2009
2008 ….. 543679 ….. 2011 is 16.6% higher than 2008
2007 ….. 577725 ….. 2011 is 11.3% higher than 2007

Here are the December stats for Milwaukee.

2011 and 2010 traffic numbers:

…….. 2011 …….. 2010
….. 220166 ….. 254985 ……. AirTran
….. 147429 ….. 236436 ……. Frontier
….. 110174 ….. 114546 ……. Delta
…….. 72490 ……. 66577 ……. Southwest
…….. 47090 ……. 46343 ……. United+Continental
…….. 30667 ……. 27527 ……. USAirways
…….. 20949 ……. 23687 ……. American
……….. 1704 ……… 1772 ……. Air Canada
………... 882 ……… 2411 ……. other



….. -89,007 Frontier
….. -34,819 AirTran
……. -4,372 Delta
……. -2,738 Amercian
……. -1,529 other
…………..-68 Air Canada
……….. 747 United+Continental
……... 3.140 USAirways
…..... 5,913 Southwest

Finally, here are the totals for MKE as a whole, plus the four previous years to see how they compare.

2011 ….. 651551
2010 ….. 774341 ….. 2011 is 18.8% lower than 2010
2009 ….. 728067 ….. 2011 is 11.7% lower than 2009
2008 ….. 543679 ….. 2011 is 16.6% higher than 2008
2007 ….. 577725 ….. 2011 is 11.3% higher than 2007

It's amazing to see how F9's traffic reductions well exceeded other carriers' reductions at MKE. How will the numbers look one year from now?

Thanks for posting all of the data, knope; it's always interesting to see the actual figures in black and white.

It's amazing to see how F9's traffic reductions well exceeded other carriers' reductions at MKE. How will the numbers look one year from now?

Good question. Frontier's shrinking numbers are not a surprise as they have been slashing service this fall, with more contraction coming in January. Who knows how much more it will drop. But a bigger unknown IMHO is what FL+WN will do. The new August schedule for FL/WN is coming out, FL out now and WN coming out tomorrow. FL departures drop 27% starting 8/12 compared to the summer schedule -- it will be interesting to see tomorrow how many flights Southwest adds at the same time to counterbalance.

I've been helping US' numbers since moving to MKE over the summer ... I fly them twice/week ...

If you want/need to stick with the *A, their flight to PHX is the best route west and CLT is the best option south.

PHL would be a good option east, but it's a terrible airport. MKE-PHL is often delayed and PHL-MKE is *always* delayed. I have better luck via EWR on CO.

An MKE-IAD non stop would be nice and make sense. I've wondered why UA doesn't offer such a flight.

An MKE-IAD non stop would be nice and make sense. I've wondered why UA doesn't offer such a flight.

They tried it with a CRJ a handful of years back and it did not last very long.

For whatever reason, Milwaukee's market to the DC area highly prefers DCA and BWI. That doesn't seem to change in spite of the booming growth further out in NoVA.

As for international connections out of the Dulles hub, I suspect a lot of UA loyalists in Milwaukee drive to O'Hare for international flights. They may regularly fly routes like MKE-ORD-RDU or MKE-DEN-SAN rather than drive to Chicago for a United nonstop, but when it comes to flying internationally, they drive to ORD to avoid the connection on top of the long international flight. So MKE-IAD-Europe is probably not as heavily patronized as it might be otherwise.