DENVER (AP) - Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc. said Tuesday it will begin nonstop service between San Francisco and Los Angeles next month, the first point-to-point service in California for the low-cost carrier.

The new service will be offered five times daily beginning June 29, Frontier said.

"We feel strongly that the San Francisco market is underserved for high-value, low fare service and there is clearly a strong business and leisure connection between these two cities," said John Happ, senior vice president of marketing and planning for Frontier.

The Denver-based airline said it is hiring 40 new employees in Los Angeles for a total of 70, and more than 40 will be hired in San Francisco.


This is downright CRAZY! Bay Area to Los Angeles is the most high volume air route in the world. It is overserved already.

SFO-LAX
United flies 16 737 round trips daily
American flies 7 MD-80 round trips daily
Alaska flies 1 roundtrip daily

SJC-LAX
Skywest flies 6 CRJ round trips daily
American Eagle flies 9 ERJ round trips daily
Southwest flies 14 737 round trips daily

OAK-LAX
Skywest flies 4 CRJ round trips daily and 1 United A319
Southwest flies 22 737 round trips daily

That's 9000 seats a day. These 3 bay area airports are all within 30 minutes of each other. What the heck does Frontier want to do in that market???
Should I start adding in BUR, ONT, SNA, LGB trips.
Any insight???

F9 has made a few mistakes in the past in picking their markets, but not many. The flying public and esp. business travelers will love the nice A-319 interiors and satellite TV channels onboard. United and Southwest especially are a step down from the Frontier product. Welcome to California, animal tails.

I heard Frontier was getting new A321's. Any truth to that?

Havent heard anything about the 321, but i know they will be getting some 320s. Wish Frontier the best especially since SWA moved in. I have flown on them couple times, great service for a great price. Also i have a friend that is CA with them, they are a good airlines that treats their employees well.

edik

PS
i R946, i think SNA, BUR, LGB, ONT, might be some airport that they will operate in.

It is all about marketing. Sure, there may already be "enough" service from other carriers, but I would guess Frontier is taking the side "we offer more on our system, so fly with us...." I feel travelers get accustom to an on board "perk" or type of equipment and hence influence a carrier adding a certain route or location.

I would also guess that this is but one part of a larger North/South expansion. What is next LAX-SFO-???? OR SFO-LAX-??????

Frontier, like SWA or JB, think things thru with the markets they serve. I think there is a bigger picture coming soon.

Yes?

I bet JB is doing a lot of rethinking with the markets they serve. The bigger picture is always coming soon (but when will we know it's arrived?)

I thought Frontier was smarter than this...

To serve this these 5 round trips a day, Frontier is using 2 A-319 aircraft that will go
SFO-LAX-SFO-LAX-SFO-LAX etc...

That is a terrible idea. I have worked at SFO before and that place gets severe fog, cutting the arrivals down from 60 to 30 per hour. Because 28L and 28R are so close together (Centerlines 750ft, so 550ft between runways), simultaneous approaches cannot be made in fog. Even with the advent of these new simultaneous offset instrument approaches, the ceiling must be below 2100ft for simultaneous approaches to happen.
Translation: On a foggy day, Frontier will be hit extremely hard on these SFO-LAX flights.

If a flight is delayed an hour in the morning from LAX-SFO, and then heads back to LAX (an hour late), and then heads back to SFO, it is now almost 2 hours late. ALL DAY LONG...

One good thing about F9's management is that they aren't afraid to back out once they figure out it's not working. For a short time they were flying STL-LAX. Loads were great, but they could use the aircraft on other routes that were more profitable so they pulled the flights.

I wouldn't say that SWA is a "step-down". They may not have TV, but their crews make up for it. They are wonderful peops who treat jump seaters like......human beings. Besides, their planes have nice, leather, comfortable seats, with plenty of leg room. UAL, well they're another story. Thanks for all the rides SWA!

Below 2100 or Above 2100? I think you meant Above.