Frontier adding routes from Miami

Airline to end service to Fort Lauderdale

MIAMI — Low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines on Tuesday announced plans to launch nine new routes from Miami International Airport starting this fall.

But as a result of those moves, the Denver-based airline will cease operations at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport later this year, spokesman Richard Olivier confirmed in an email.

The new destinations from Miami are Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee, Trenton, N.J.; Islip and Buffalo, N.Y; Providence, R.I. and San Juan, Puerto Rico, according to a news release. The airline has been serving Cincinnati and Trenton out of Fort Lauderdale.

In 2016, Frontier carried nearly 575,000 passengers to and from MIA, making it the airport’s seventh busiest passenger airline, officials said. It launched operations at MIA in December 2014. Last year, Frontier carried 35,091 travelers to and from Fort LauderdaleHollywood, which is dominated by discounters JetBlue, Southwest and Spirit.

“It is encouraging to see that in addition to our expansion into new foreign markets, we are also growing our domestic route network,” Miami-Dade Aviation Director Emilio T. González said of Frontier’s growth in Miami.

Five of the new Miami routes — Buffalo, Islip, Milwaukee, Providence and Trenton — are not served by another carrier from MIA, airport officials said.

“Our residents will have even more flight options to key U.S. markets, and our local tourism industry will receive an infusion of thousands of additional passengers,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez.

Historically a fixture in the Rocky Mountain West, Frontier is on a path to serve more than 80 cities in a network that includes Mexico and the Dominican Republic, according to its website. The airline employs more than 3,000 people.

The additional flights announced from Miami were part of a broader unveiling Tuesday that saw the airline declare new service for 21 new cities nationwide in the coming months. Once fully operational, the expansion will represent a 30 percent increase in destinations to 82 cities.

“Customers will benefit not only from the broad new selection of nonstop routes, but our growing network will provide more than 1,000 new connecting route options,” Frontier CEO Barry Biffle said.

To celebrate its new routes launching between October and December, Frontier is offering fares from $49 one-way for purchase by 11:59 p.m. Thursday. Seats for the introductory fares are limited and valid for travel between October and March, Frontier said.

Starting Oct. 5, Frontier also plans to add new service between Palm Beach International Airport and Islip. It also offers seasonal winter service from West Palm Beach to Denver, Philadelphia, Chicago and Trenton, according to airport data.

Frontier currently offers daily flights from Miami to Denver. On Aug. 14 it plans to resume seasonal service between Miami and Las Vegas, a Frontier spokesman confirmed. Later this year, it will resume seasonal flying to Chicago, Philadelphia, New York-La Guardia and Atlanta, officials at MIA said.