Frontier Airlines Cuts 10 Routes From This Major US Airport: See Affected Flights

Credit: Colinmthompson | Shutterstock | Simple Flying Published Sep 7, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT James lives and breathes route development. Educated in Air Transport Management at Loughborough University and Cranfield University, James has a PhD in Airline Strategy and Economics. James was Market Opportunity Analyst at London Luton Airport and Chief Analyst at anna.aero. He taught airline strategy and economics to undergraduate and postgraduate students for five years and has worked closely with multiple carriers on route and market intelligence projects. He is based near London, UK. Sign in to your Simple Flying account Between September and December, Frontier Airlines plans to serve 86 airports, both within and outside the US. That's according to the airline's schedule submission to OAG. The ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) plans an average 313 daily departures (double for total movements), up by 12% year-over-year. Frontier's airports include Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), which has been part of the ULCC's network for 31 years. PHX is Frontier's ninth most-served airport, down two places compared to September to December 2025. The fall is due ten routes ending and 11% of flights being removed. Frontier Has Ended These Ten Routes From PHX The ULCC's network between September and December 2025 was compared to what is scheduled to operate between September and December 2026. This process identified that the following ten routes have been eliminated. Nearly all the airport pairs existed for very little time. None more so than PHX to Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE), which covered 985 nautical miles (1,824 km). Frontier only had 50 departures, usually twice-weekly, from June to December 2025. Alaska Airlines has served the market since 2019. The US Department of Transportation (DOT) shows that Frontier transported 8,680 round-trip passengers, but filled a ridiculously low 45.1% of the available seats. No wonder the route was cut. While not a like-for-like comparison, Alaska carried 101,389 passengers in the same period (on a 12-weekly to double-daily basis) with a load factor of 81.6%. End Month Frontier PHX To... Served Since Total Round-Trip Passengers* Overall Load Factor** December 2025 PAE, WA (fully removed from network) 2025 only See above See above March 2026 Portland, OR 2016-2017, then 2022-2026 271,960 77.9% April 2026 Kansas City, MO 2023-2026 42,818 59.9% April 2026 Reno, NV 2025-2026 5,359 33.3% (!) April 2026 St. Louis, MO 2016-2017, then 2024-2026 42,288 73.7% April 2026 San Antonio, TX 2017-2018, then 2025-2026 34,367 76.7% April 2026 Seattle, WA 2016-2017, then 2023-2026 335,211 81.1% April 2026 Spokane, WA (fully cut from network) 2025-2026 9,233 51.7% May 2026 Chicago Midway, IL* 2022-2026 378,820 86.3% May 2026 Cincinnati, OH 2014-2026 448,577 78.8% * Replaced by O'Hare * According to the US DOT ** According to the US DOT Loading map… Drag to explore Only One Route Has Been Added Credit: Flickr Recall that this article compares Frontier's PHX network from September to December 2025 with what's planned in the same months in 2026. In this period, only one link has been added. That's to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP). This airport pair, which covers 1,109 nautical miles (2,054 km), was originally served in January 2023, with flights existing through April 2025. No services were available from then until February 2026, which is why it is mentioned. In the remainder of 2026, two-weekly flights will usually operate. The 186-seat Airbus A320neo (shown above) will be primarily used, along with the 230-seat A321ceo and 240-seat A321neo. The following table summarizes the airport pair's operators in mid-November. 77 weekly departures are available, up from 75 in the equivalent week in 2025. Ten to 12 daily outbound flights exist, primarily because of Delta Air Lines to its MSP hub. This is, of course, also why the SkyTeam member's seats per departure are the highest (203). PHX-MSP Frequency In Mid-November* Airline & Equipment** 42 weekly Delta (A321ceo, 737-900ER, 757-300) 16 weekly Sun Country (737-800) 14 weekly American (A319, A320, 737-800) 3 weekly Southwest (737-700, 737 MAX 8) 2 weekly Frontier (A320neo) * As a random example of activity ** May be different at other times Frontier At Phoenix: September To December 2026 In the final few months of the year, the ULCC plans 15 routes from PHX. It'll fly to Austin, Chicago O'Hare, Cleveland, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Houston George Bush, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, MSP, Orange County, Orlando, Salt Lake City, San Diego, and San Francisco. Frontier has scheduled an average of 18 daily departures from PHX, varying from 13 to a high of 24 each day. The maximum of 24 takes effect on October 9, with some Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays having that volume through November 30. Context is needed. Frontier's highest ever activity at PHX was in March 2026, when 37 departures were available.