Fronter begins service ILG - Wilmington, Delaware 1 Jul 2013
 

This isn't to be officially announced until tomorrow, but it seems someone blabbed and now CBS Philly has picked it up:

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/201...e-to-delaware/

"Frontier Airlines Will Bring Commercial Service To Delaware

Colorado-based Frontier Airlines is resurrecting commercial airline service in Delaware.

Frontier plans to begin Airbus 320 service from New Castle Airport on July 1, offering three flights a week to Chicago-Midway and Houston. Service to Orlando and Denver begins the following day with two weekly flights to Orlando and four flights a week to Denver, Frontier’s main hub.

Service to Tampa, with two flights a week, will start July 4."

It's an interesting move - the first commercial service at the airport for five years.

Will people fly out of Delaware? That's the question! Does this airport have a control tower that will be manned?

Interesting news. Is F9 building an alternative to PHL?

The Wilmington control tower is not an outsourced facility like TTN and is less likely to close (it was not on the list of 149). FAA operates this tower which is open daily from 0630 til 2300 ET.

It's the same question that a lot of people asked about TTN.

ILG is 24 miles from PHL (TTN is 38 miles). The metropolitan area is estimated at about 6 million people and includes Philadelphia and Camden, NJ.

It is still a good question, will they use it? It hasn't has service for five years, but then TTN hadn't had much. Airport costs will be low, as at TTN, and the airport experince may be less hectic, less crowded, than, say, PHL.

My guess is that the key to it will be low fares, and not just initially, used as an incentive to get people to the airport. The route choices are solid. I guess they will have no problems with MCO and TPA, MDW and IAH may be slightly more seasonal, and DEN-ILG will replace DEN-PHL but without the brutal competition in winter (assuming there is a unique market).

But - I don't know the answer to your question. I just think it is an extraordinarily interesting experiment, as TNN was and remains.

And I guess that every airport in the US that believes itself to be under-served and thus hard-done-by will be beating a path to Frontier's door. Some of them may be a good idea - some not.

A quick estimate shows that Wilmington is either faster to get to or tied vs. PHL for just about all of Delaware, most of the Eastern shore, and the Brandywine Valley. I'd ballpark them to have around 1.2-1.4 million people where ILG is closer than another commercial airport. With no competition and 5 destinations to start with (including connections at DEN), this is not a bad move.

The only thing I wonder about is if UA will consider starting there given that the 3 non-Florida destinations are their Central US hubs.

Why there is no FLL service?

ILG may even pull from Harford County, MD. Maybe even down to northern Baltimore County, although there are unavoidable highway tolls from Harford/Baltimore County up to New Castle Co DE

Southwest's BWI-MDW fares aren't really low fares. it used to be easy to get a free flight in RR1.0 via BWI-CMH-MDW but now points or cash, its always over $150 one way or a lot of points. I have noticed EWR-MDW being priced much lower than PHL-MDW or BWI-MDW.

However since Spirit started competing on BWI-FLL, WN has lowered its fares on that route.

My guess is F9 chose to skip FLL given that NK at BWI is already stimulating low fares there.

Many in DE consider BWI.

Its better being a low fare alternative to high fares than a low fare alternative to already low fares elsewhere.

My question is why not DFW?

I'm flying TTN-MDW in May and I looked for alternatives incase F9 decieded to leave because of the tower closure and I couldn't find anything close to the $128RT I paid unless I flew Spirit out of LGA or ACY. I assume ILGs fares will be similar so they should be able to attract people who are closer or even a little further (:15-:20 further). Not to mention I'm sure there will be free parking. I am surprised though that IAH gets 5X weekly while MDW only gets 3X. Guess they must be confident with ILG-IAH.

Hmmm? Both ILG-MDW and ILG-IAH are 3 x weekly.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...695_story.html

"The company said Monday that it will begin its Airbus 320 service in Delaware on July 1, offering three flights a week to Chicago-Midway and Houston from the New Castle County Airport."

[rant]

Am I the only one who thinks many (especially on a.net) miss the point of what Frontier is doing in TTN/ILG? Some of the comments I've seen, paraphrased:

"The timing is horrible, and only 4 flights per week! How do they expect to get any business travelers?!"

"My small airport in West Bumblef*ck is perfect for starting an operation like this! There are only 2 express carriers there now!"

Is it really that difficult to understand? Frontier's market with TTN/ILG is to enter unused airports with large established markets nearby (i.e. PHL-CHI vs. TTN/ILG-MDW) with low(er) fares and a large catchment of travelers who live closer to the unused airport vs. any other major commercial airport.

Targeting leisure travelers and flying 2-6x/week means they fly under the radar of the majors. AA/UA/US/WN are not lowering their fares on PHL-CHI to match TTN because they would lose millions of dollars in revenue each month on their 30 daily flights between the cities, all while F9 only siphons off the lowest-revenue travelers.

They specifically don't target business travelers because it means more frequency required and a (much) better frequent flyer program, both of which will draw the attention of the big guys.

Finally, Frontier is not going to put a focus city in a small market or an airport that already has low levels of service because 1) there is no traffic to justify it 2) there is no major market to siphon established traffic off of and 3) any existing carrier may try to start a fare war and/or increase service.

[/rant]

The timing of a flight should be reasonable (atleast to one side, likely ILG/TTN based pax than say MDW or IAH based pax) even if the flight is offered just 3x weekly or so, so that atleast some use it and will pay a normal fare for it.

Otherwise, you'll see the really low fares even just a couple days ahead, which might indicate that it's not profitable or sustainable.

I don't think UA would be too perturbed about it. All are lengthy routes and over 500 miles.

Frontier also flies MDT-DEN which didn't cause UA to launch the route, given the distance.

I'd think if F9 started ILG-CLT, US would retaliate though. It's short-haul and to a US fortress hub.

The $600 roundtrip fares and monopoly exclusivity on PHL-CLT (booked months in advance) has to be a profit center for US and F9 undercutting them even without using PHL but at a such nearby airport (ILG), would trigger a reaction. Maybe ACY-CLT wouldn't trigger a reaction given it's 50 miles away from PHL.

WN at BWI already has low fares on BWI-CLT and other short-hauls, so it may have been another reason to avoid flying short-haul routes out of ILG.

I'd like to see ILG-DFW. Even though Spirit started it's low fares on PHL-DFW, Spirit seating is very uncomfortable on a 3 hour trip. I'd think Frontier could do well on it if it proves well on ILG-IAH.

Sorry it appears the other 2X are via DEN.

I'm talking about those complaining that travel times don't allow for a business person's day trip, which is almost impossible to do when most flights just fly out and come right back (i.e. TTN-CMH-TTN).

There is no such thing as a day trip from IAH-PHL or ILG. Unless you only have a 1hr meeting.

IAH-PHL is actually a high demand semi-long haul route. Between UA/US/WN there are at least 12 RT flights a day that are always packed. It has a lot to do with the natural gas 'play' in PA. So, any pressure relief that F9 can provide to PHL would be welcome.

However, don't expect me to fly into ILG. Haha...