Frontier Airlines, which ramped up its flights from New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) quickly in 2024, and even more during the summer 2025 season, is now retreating from the airport, filing just a single route from JFK for April and beyond.
Retreating from JFK
Frontier Airlines launched its first services from JFK in June 2024 and quickly expanded its network from the airport, offering up to 10 routes by late 2025. However, now, the low-cost carrier’s schedule from JFK is down to a single route, to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL).
According to Cirium’s Diio Mi, the airline refreshed its schedules this week, reducing the number of flights from JFK, with the changes affecting only that airport. Frontier Airlines has yet to publish its network plans for the period beyond September 8.
Cirium’s Diio Mi shows that, over a 12-month period up to the end of Q2 2025, the carrier’s average load factor from the airport was 83%.
Not even a year ago, on March 7, 2025, Frontier Airlines and JFK Millennium Partners, a consortium that has partnered with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ) to develop the airport’s Terminal 6, announced that the low-cost carrier will operate from the new terminal when the first phase of construction ends sometime in 2026.
At the time, Matthew Sattler, the Director of Airport Planning and Facilities at Frontier Airlines, said that the airline was “excited to continue expanding our operations at JFK,” and looking forward to moving to the new terminal.
The Port Authority still lists Frontier Airlines as a Terminal 6 airline partner.
Rytis Beresnevicius
Cuts at LGA
JFK is not the only New York area airport where the carrier will be reducing flights. Per Cirium’s Diio Mi, in August, it scheduled 14 fewer weekly flights from New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA).
In general, from a peak of 57 weekly departures at LGA in February 2025, Frontier Airlines’ frequencies from the airport have dipped to 35 between June and August.
While the airline’s leadership did not specifically address its network changes on an airport-by-airport basis during its most recent quarterly earnings call, with the exception of ATL, James Dempsey, its President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), said that Frontier Airlines is targeting $200 million of annual run-rate cost savings by 2027, largely driven by “network optimization, productivity enhancements, and other efficiencies across the business.”
Some of that network optimization will include backfilling the off-peak days, which, under the previous leadership, were given less priority, reducing the fleet’s overall utilization.
Considering how expensive charges are at JFK and LGA, including the upward adjustment that has been in effect since January 1, 2025, it is not surprising that in a bid to cut costs, Frontier Airlines is reducing its presence at the two airports.
At Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Frontier Airlines has held a stable schedule of 21 weekly departures since December 2024. By April, the number of weekly flights from EWR will go up to 28, Cirium’s Diio Mi indicates.
Rytis Beresnevicius
