Frontier Airlines had plans. They were going to purchase the long-range Airbus A321XLR and use it to fly international and Hawai’i routes. However, the A321XLR ordered didn’t materialize. So, now Frontier is abandoning its Hawai’i dreams – at least for now.
Ultra-low-cost and Low-Cost Carriers are experiencing financial difficulties. This has forced them to pivot in different ways, such as changing the way they sell tickets, board aircraft, and even how much they grow—if at all. Frontier is just the latest airline to make changes to its business plans as it adjusts to changing travel demands and financial needs.
Frontier is Abandoning Its Hawai’i Dreams
Back in 2019, Frontier Airlines announced that it would convert 18 of its Airbus A320neo orders into A321XLRs. At the time, their intent was to use the aircraft and its 4,700 nautical-mile range to operate cross-country, international, and Hawai’i flights. Yes, that kind of range is excessive for flights from their main hub in Denver to Hawai’i, especially since Hawaiian uses an A321neo to fly HNL-SLC. However, it’s worth reminding that Frontier flies denser configurations, meaning more weight and less range. Hawaiian already has to restrict capacity on its HNL-SLC route, so the XLR would be necessary for Frontier to make Hawai’i flying economically sustainable.
But, of course, Frontier is abandoning its Hawai’i dreams, at least in the interim, as they’ve notified Airbus that they no longer plan on purchasing the A321XLR. Instead, they’ll be converting the order into a mix of A321neos and A320neos. Moreover, they’re deferring the delivery of 54 new jets, shifting deliveries from the 2025 to 2028 timeframe to 2029 and beyond. That said, Frontier has total outstanding orders of 198 aircraft, so it’s still taking delivery of 111 neos between now and the end of 2028.
Though Frontier reported a $31 million profit in Q2 2024, the company says it’s making these moves to reduce its debt obligations. This is likely to help maintain its profitability in the face of growing headwinds.
Reprieve for Hawai’i?
That Frontier is abandoning its Hawai’i dreams is, in my opinion, probably for the better right now. While I love having the option to fly Southwest, especially within the islands, I’ve also noticed that visitor behavior got worse when they started flying here, especially after big fare sales. That’s not to say that people who fly Southwest (or Frontier) are bad, not at all. But there’s no denying that Frontier and Spirit have more incidents, like fights breaking out onboard, than others. And that’s not what we need here. Of course, because Frontier is no longer ordering the planes they need to do this, this won’t be a possibility. For now.
Final Thoughts
With the backlog of orders for the A321XLR and all of the other A320 family of aircraft, that Frontier is abandoning its Hawai’i dreams is likely a mid-term decision. They won’t be able to get the same production slots back, so they must be fairly certain that their plans for these birds probably weren’t going to work out financially. That, however, wouldn’t be surprising, either. After all, Southwest has been struggling with the finances of its Hawai’i ops, while JetBlue is experiencing the same issues as its European ops.
With their segment in such disarray, that’s probably for the better, anyway. And with how expensive lodging Hawai’i has gotten, I don’t see how a ULCC will be able to consistently fill their flights to the islands. Plus, how would they keep utilization up on aircraft here? Not to mention, they’d have to adapt their ops to account for ETOPS flights for both Hawai’i and Europe, which is quite an undertaking. So, yeah, I don’t really see how this would’ve worked for them.