Frontier adds new nonstop route from Bradley
Low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines will add a fifth nonstop route at Bradley International Airport later this spring offering service to Atlanta, as the state’s largest airport sees more signs of air travel taking the first steps to recovery.
“We’re still down 60% from where we were pre-pandemic, but over the past few weeks we’ve seen some light at the end of the tunnel,” Kevin A. Dillon, executive director of Connecticut Airport Authority, said Tuesday after Frontier’s announcement. “People are feeling more comfortable about travel.”
Dillon said he expects more sit-down restaurant and other amenities — many that have been closed since the start of the pandemic — to begin reopening this month.
The guidance from the Centers for Disease Prevention Control that people who are fully vaccinated can travel with relatively low risk will help, Dillon said.
“I am hoping that the summer travel period, which is usually a very
busy period for us, we will see some real meaningful recovery occur for us,” Dillon said.
As Bradley prepares for summer travel, Frontier will launch its nonstop service to Atlanta on June 11 and operate four times a week.
In addition to Frontier, Delta also offers daily, nonstop services to Atlanta.
“We’re delighted to announce new nonstop
service between Hartford and Atlanta,” Tyri Squyres, vice president of marketing at Frontier Airlines, said, in a release. “Our focus is delivering ‘Low Fares Done Right’ and this new service represents our continued commitment to affordable flying and expanding travel opportunities for Connecticut flyers.”
Frontier’s other destinations out of Bradley are
Denver, Miami, Orlando and Raleigh-Durham.
Dillon said he expects that leisure travel will recover first, followed by business passengers who must fly to visit customers. There are still a lot of questions surrounding business travel from, say, a headquarters to a satellite location.
“I do think that over the last year many companies have become very comfortable with Zoom and other platforms to conduct meetings like that remotely,” Dillon said.
Dillon said he is hopeful that restrictions on travel across the Canadian border will lift soon, allowing Air Canada to again fly out of Bradley. It is expected to be far longer for Aer Lingus, which relies heavily on business travel, to return, possibly not until next spring, he said.
Tuesday’s announcement by Frontier comes a month after JetBlue, another low-cost carrier, said last month it would add a nonstop route to Miami. Also in March, Southwest Airlines launched a nonstop flight to Nashville.