Is there any chance ONT could ever be a base or does Frontier believe it’s just too expensive to operate out of CA?

I'm told it is the CA issue.

Never is a long, long time…but we will probably have a CA base sometime just BEFORE never. We put bases where we have the most operations…ONT isn’t even the most serviced city in the state. I see CLE and/or CVG, RDU, CHI coming back, and even SJU being bases before anywhere in a California.

Note: this is usually where somebody will say SJU (or a co-domicile of ORD/MDW “isn’t allowed by the contract”. Don’t listen to them, there is nowhere in the CBA that says the company can’t do this.

ONT base was asked to D.S in my ground school a couple years ago. He said they looked at it but there were a few California labor law issues they didn't want to deal with so they parked that idea.

Numerous airlines are closing/reducing CA inflight bases due to work laws not operationally compatible with airline ops

https://liveandletsfly.com/california-flight-crew-rest/

If unions can leverage this into mandatory I need off the aircraft for a half hr or at least the 10 mins during quick turns that might work. It’s pretty dumb now with fa told by gate agents they can’t get off and grab food. Unions do need to be careful as the article mentions and not cause carriers to just close bases. Hopefully common sense prevails.

Based on what I’ve heard from people in RGS, I wouldn’t be surprised to see both CLE and CVG as bases at some point. Both cities are consistently profitable and will support some modest growth.

The MDW thing is much more tentative. I’ve heard that they are still trying to find consistent profitability as WN has significantly ramped up competition with us there. I also think that if the JBLU/NK thing pans out, along with AA starting to retreat from the domestic market in ORD, competitive market pressures may raise fares significantly in ORD, leaving it a more fertile ground for ULCC in the future. I think it’s possible that we see a Chicago base in the future, but it will be in response to future market conditions allowing more growth - a much more speculative thing than CLE/CVG.

CLE base confirmed…look at Uncle Biffs latest video. ;)

Interesting....
https://news.jetblue.com/latest-news...t/default.aspx

Can't wait for that LGA redeye turn. Coming soon to a junior reserve crew.