Frontier Airlines announced new service from Paine Field will begin on June 2nd. Paine Field is in Everett, Washington, which is about 25 miles away from Seattle. The airport is known for being the site of the Boeing airplane factory.
Service from Paine Field will be to Phoenix, Denver, and Las Vegas. Each of these flights begin on June 2nd, 2025 and will fly 3 times per week.
Frontier’s new service from Paine Field will complement its existing offerings from nearby Seattle Tacoma International Airport. The airline flies to seven destinations from SeaTac including flights to Denver, Phoenix, and Las Vegas.
Passenger service from Paine Field has historically been very limited. Airlines just began flying again from Everett during the mid to late 2010s.
Currently, the only other tenant at Paine Field is Alaska Airlines.
There is much excitement about Frontier’s announcement. Paine Field passenger traffic numbers haven’t rebounded from the pandemic.
Brett Smith (CEO of Propeller Airports who operates the terminal at the airfield) commented, “It’s gonna be nine flights (Frontier’s flights) a week and so about 4,000 total passengers (weekly)“We can absolutely handle that (traffic increase) now without any issues.”
What Does This Mean For Frontier and Its Passengers?
Frontier Sees Opportunity for Growth in the Pacific Northwest
Frontier is expanding into a reliever type airport in the Seattle Area. They are by no means, one of the market leaders in the Seattle market. They are only offering seven destinations out of SeaTac. So what’s the opportunity here?
The opportunity for Frontier is that the Seattle market doesn’t really have an ultra low cost carrier in mix. Frontier offers the most service from an ULCC. Spirit only flies two routes out of Seattle. Sun Country flies one route. There’s no Allegiant, or Avelo yet.
Frontier building more service using Seattle’s Paine Field is a way to diversify themselves from the crowded market in Seattle. This market is dominated by Alaska Airlines. They realized that there was no way for them to be competitive at SeaTac. The path of least resistance to gain some market share is to tap into a virtually untapped market found at Paine Field.
There is tremendous upside for Frontier at Paine. Alaska Airlines mostly flies its smaller regional planes from the airport. Frontier will be bringing its bigger Airbus aircraft. Allowing the airline to accommodate more passengers atl lower operational costs.
As a ULCC, they can also undercut any ticket prices that Alaska is charging on routes out of Paine Field. Meaning they do have a competitive value proposition for operating from the airport.
More Access to Popular Cities for Seattleites at Low Cost
Folks from Seattle will likely enjoy this new addition. We already alluded to the lack of ultra low cost carriers operating in the Seattle area. Denver, Phoenix, and Las Vegas are all in the top 5 of the most popular destinations out of SeaTac.
Each route tallies close to 1 million passengers a year. They are all flown by popular airlines, like Alaska, American, Delta, Southwest, and United.
Each of these airlines charge premium prices compared to what Frontier would charge on these routes. All these cities are within a 3 hour flight radius from Seattle.
If you are a passenger that needs to get from point A to point B and can sacrifice creature comforts, why wouldn’t you give Frontier a shot to save a few dollars. Another incentive is beating traffic and experiencing a hassle free airport at Paine Field.
Sources
https://www.seattletimes.com/life/travel/frontier-airlines-adds-3-paine-field-routes-from-everett
