Frontier Starting DEN-RDU
 

I'm happy to see this route, looks like it starts June 11th.

http://www.flyfrontier.com/specials/...als/new-mrkts2

Very nice. WN with 2x/day, F9 with one.

It's hard to believe there will be 2 airlines flying RDU-DEN and neither of them are UA. :)

UA did fly it in the past. But I guess it's too long for an ERJ-145. :)

Ha! Maybe they'll put one of their new EMB-175s on it.

Yeah, we are aware of that. They didn't like it at all. ERJ-145 is very uncomfortable ride. The seat is very tight. They want to be on ERJ-175.

Has this route been dropped (after Jan 4, 2016)? It says it was seasonal, but I find it incredible that the "season" is ENDING on Jan 4th just as SKI SEASON starts. When would it be restarted? Charlotte service BEGINS in March, but those are dates that has no RDU to DEN flights.

Well LP, can't say for sure being CLT-DEN service starts in March. However alot of service is being suspended for winter according to Bob Westgate, Frontier's Senior Director of Schedules because Frontier is "very tight on aircraft" for Q1 2016 due to returning a bunch of the A319s while the some of the new aircrafts on order are delayed (A320neo/A321).

Not sure about other places but I know that F9 drastically cut service from PHL and TTN (Trenton, NJ) in Q1 16'

http://staugustine.com/news/local-ne...ustine-service

I couldn't get the OP link to work, it kept redirecting to the main page.

Google's ITA Matrix shows no non-stop Frontier flights DEN-RDU after 1/3/16, thru end of schedule. I will accept that as evidence of suspension of service.

Right, because of the winter seasonal. They won't be back until mid-Spring or Summer.

I would have assumed they would have announced a resumption-of-service date were they going to bring back the route in the Spring, so I'm inclined to believe it's being quietly cancelled. Pity, as this was really a convenient (and affordable) hop to Denver from the Triangle. Of the 4 times I flew the route, LF seemed to be >90%, though a lot of seats seemed to be filled from their $15 fare sale.

On the plus side, it seems to have inspired United to fly the route.

When I flew CLT-PHL last week, I was surprised how many people around me, and from different groups, were speaking with southern accents. I overheard some people coming from SC. I was surprised point of sale was strong from CLT side given that Frontier had a lot fewer routes being offered from CLT than PHL. The carry-on bin space of my flight was full, which was odd that most ULCC flights that I take now have carry on bins that are more empty because of the carry-on bag fee. Maybe because CLT has been hub captive with higher fares for so long that people paying Frontier even for a carry-on view it as a great bargain.

That said, it seems that Frontier could do well even returning back to RDU even though they are suspending all service this winter. I think it could do RDU-DEN, RDU-TTN and maybe RDU-MCO. Frontier has a sizeable presence in MCO. RDU-ORD might be problematic if AA is fare matching.

Frontier is suspending ATL-MCO but Spirit is doubling up on ATL-MCO this Winter. While most families will drive if under 8 hours, if they are looking to save money, I think RDU being farther up north would still result in flight being a better option than driving. Also, I have met a few people who have moved to Orlando for work but visiting family and flying Spirit for cheap. Probably Frontier could get this crowd from RDU. Frontier could sell advance fares of RDU-MCO at half the price of Southwest's advance fares for the same route, and same week fares even less than Southwest's business oriented fares for walk-ups and same week fares.

From what I've seen where it's Southwest vs. Delta vs. ULCC, like BWI-ATL, Southwest isn't all that aggressive against Spirit and fares on Southwest are high and Spirit is likely making good money on the route as well. An RDU-MCO match up would be similar players, Southwest and Delta, except Frontier instead of Spirit.

Agreed; I was surprised they actually launched CLE and TTN from RDU and not MCO, although I suppose with 6 dailies (3 WN, 3 DL) they perhaps decided it was already over-served or wasn't likely to generate sufficient yield, especially given their lack of name recognition in the area.

Well, as soon as they extended dates thru summer, the route came back from DEN to and fromo RDU. How weird...In what universe is the Denver travel season all year EXCEPT January thru April? Seems like they have it backwards for what I assume would be higher demand travel to Denver from the SE for skiing out west during those very months they take a break.

Ski season is not the honey pot that some think it is, at least for the Frontier passenger base. Generally - there are exceptions - the rule for seasonal routes is north-south in winter, east-west in summer.

So DEN-GSO is a seasonal route, too, and that comes back for the summer, like DEN-RDU.