Frontier dials back nonstop service
Frontier Airlines has suspended the nonstop flights to Orlando, Florida, that were announced in 2017 with much fanfare and granted cityfunded marketing and other incentives.
Despite Frontier’s failure to maintain the promised level of service on the Orlando route, none of the marketing assistance approved by the Airport Trust can be recovered.
In contrast to the big deal made over Frontier last year, flight schedule reductions were not announced, and there has been no guarantee when the Orlando service might resume.
Steve Baldwin and his wife, Suzanne, learned of the changes the hard way last month.
“I can’t trust Frontier to get me across the street,” said Baldwin, a Midwest City resident and Tinker Air Force Base retiree. “If I don’t ever hear the name again, it would probably be good.”
Baldwin and his wife, who had recently undergone neck and back surgery, thought Frontier’s nonstops to Orlando, with ultralow fares and a flying time of about three hours, were just the ticket.
Home last month from an exasperating week that involved rebooking outbound and return flights on Delta, Baldwin said their visit with family, including his wife’s sister, at Merritt Island was pleasant.
But on Sept. 8, after finding out five hours before their scheduled departure that their outbound flight was canceled, and in the rush to find an alternative, “I could have bit nails in two.”
I can’t trust Frontier to get me across the street. If I don’t ever hear the name again, it would probably be good.”
Steve Baldwin, a Midwest City resident and Tinker Air Force Base retiree
Marketing incentives were $125,000
Frontier announced in July 2017 it would return to Oklahoma City after a two-year absence. In exchange, Frontier received up to $125,000 in marketing assistance, along with other incentives, from the city.
Frontier’s return and agreement to fly nonstop to Florida four times a week was a welcome development because there was no comparable year-round service to Orlando. In its announcement, Frontier said it would fly to Denver, its hub, and offer nonstop round trips to Orlando beginning Nov. 1, and would add nonstop service to San Diego in 2018.
The Airport Trust rewarded Frontier with incentives including up to $125,000 for marketing — $75,000 for returning after being gone more than 12 months and $50,000 for the Orlando route.
Baldwin said he booked nonstop flights to and from Orlando on July 6.
They were to depart Will Rogers World Airport at 7 p.m. Sept. 8. and return by 6 p.m. Sept. 15. Frontier canceled the return flight and rebooked the couple through Denver, essentially shortening their vacation by a day. Their outbound flight was canceled eight hours before departure. Buying last-minute tickets, Baldwin said, “cost me about $1,600 to finally get down there and back.”
Will Rogers World Airport spokeswoman Karen Carney said last month that Frontier had begun reducing its fourdays-per-week Orlando schedule — the schedule that entitled it to marketing assistance and other incentives — in late summer.
Besides marketing assistance, Frontier has been receiving a 50 percent rebate on gate rental.
Frontier’s monthly gate rental is $6,899. The total credit applied, as of Wednesday, was $37,946.
The airline also qualified for a 50 percent rebate on landing fees for the first year of service on the Orlando route, payable in the second year. Because Frontier let the service lapse, it will not receive the landing fees rebate, Carney said.
Jonathan Freed, Frontier’s director of corporate communications, characterized flight cancellations as a “seasonal suspension.”
He said by email Orlando service would resume in November and continue through the winter.
Carney said the airport had been informed Frontier would cut back from four round trips weekly to three.
On flyfrontier.com Wednesday, it was possible to book a nonstop roundtrip for as little as $39 each way, departing Oklahoma City Dec. 9 and returning from Orlando Jan. 10.
Competing for passengers
The airport’s incentive program was developed in 2002 as competition among airports to attract and expand air service heated up, Carney said.
Goals include enhancing travelers’ options and increasing airport revenue derived from passenger facility charges, parking, restaurants, and retail.
Rather than being paid directly to the airline, marketing incentives pass through an advertising firm or the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, the city’s leading business organization.
Revenue from advertising in and around the airport funds the incentives, Carney said last summer.
According to the incentives program, airlines get the opportunity to develop a customized marketing plan in collaboration with either the trust’s advertising firm or the chamber.
Marketing plans must promote the airport, the airline’s brand and the new route.
Nonstop routes to Newark, New Jersey; Detroit; San Francisco; Seattle; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Philadelphia have benefited from marketing assistance since 2002.
United Airlines received marketing assistance for nonstops to Cleveland in 2013 but discontinued the service when it reduced flights at its Cleveland hub, Carney said.
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