Frontier Is All About 'Discipline'

America's lone remaining national ULCC is going hard into Spirit's markets. But if it didn't care about returning to profitability, it could go harder.

Dear readers,

Had Spirit gone under last year, I wonder if then-Frontier CEO Barry Biffle would have aggressively dumped capacity into ex-Spirit markets, perhaps while promising (with his usual gusto) that Frontier would dominate the low-cost space and soon return to double-digit margins. I often felt as if Biffle, a former marketing executive, preferred gut feel as much as data — as if he wanted to will things into being true.

But under his successor, Jimmy Dempsey (a long-time financial executive), Frontier is taking a more measured approach, in both expansion and rhetoric. During Frontier’s first quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Dempsey made it clear that he does not seek world domination. Instead, he wants to return the airline to consistent profitability.

So while Frontier will evaluate opportunities to add flights, and consider bidding for assets at key airports, Dempsey said he won’t make irrational decisions to win share.