Frontier begins major expansion at Washington Dulles

DULLES, Va. -- Frontier Airlines began flying to Washington Dulles on Tuesday (Aug. 19), launching the first three routes of what will be a massive 18-route expansion by the carrier at the airport.

Frontier's first arrival to Dulles, Flight 1337 from Minneapolis/St. Paul, received a ceremonial water-cannon salute as it taxied to gate Z9 at 11:56 a.m. – 19 minutes ahead of schedule.

The Minnesota route joins two others -- Atlanta and Orlando -- that started for Frontier on Tuesday. Flights to Charlotte begin Wednesday while service to Tampa launches Thursday. By Nov. 22, Frontier will be flying nonstop from Washington Dulles to 18 destinations – a remarkably fast service build-up for a new-entrant carrier.

Once all 18 routes begin, Dulles will become the third biggest airport in Frontier's network as measured by the number of nonstop destinations offered. Only Frontier's main hub in Denver and its fast-growing focus city in Trenton, N.J., will have more.

Frontier planned 14 destinations from Dulles when it first announced plans to add service there in May. By August, Frontier had added three more routes to Dulles – all before it flew its first flight to the airport. And the carrier announced another new Dulles route – to Nassau in the Bahamas – just Tuesday morning.

"We see a very good opportunity in the D.C. area to stimulate demand by bringing low fares to the marketplace," Frontier spokeswoman Tyri Squyres told Today in the Sky at Dulles. "And we're seeing a very positive response and that's why we've continued to add routes since our initial announcement."

As you would expect, Frontier's arrival was welcomed by Dulles officials.

"We applaud Frontier on its first new group of flights today," says Chris Browne, manager of Dulles International. "This new service provides our customers at Dulles International Airport more new low-cost options when flying to or from the (region)."

Frontier already flies from Washington's close-to-downtown Reagan National Airport, offering three daily round-trip flights to Denver.

At Dulles, however, Frontier's quickly developing focus city there highlights the carrier's effort to look for growth opportunities outside its main hub in Denver, where it faces intense competition from both United and Southwest.

Frontier had carved out a successful niche in Denver despite United having a longtime hub there. But it was the 2006 return – and subsequent rapid growth – of Southwest that has made Denver such a competitive market. Against that backdrop, Frontier experimented by adding routes in other parts of the country as a way to diversify its network.

In addition to Dulles and Trenton, Frontier has added a number of point-to-point routes in other cities, including Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis and Wilmington, Del.