Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines ticket counters at Kansas City International Airport.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
frontier airlines expects revenue to increase due to Spirit Airlines’ bankruptcy over the weekend, a shutdown that removed Spirit flights from the market overnight.
“Given the benefits we have realized from Spirit’s capacity adjustments to date, we believe the company’s exit will result in a 3% to 5% increase in revenue per available seat mile going forward,” Frontier Chief Commercial Officer Bobby Schroeder said on Tuesday’s earnings call.
Just before Spirit ceased operations, marking the biggest U.S. airline bankruptcy in a generation, the low-cost airline had 35% overlap with Frontier Airlines seats and 31% overlap with Frontier Airlines seats. jet blue airlinesIts market share is growing, according to an analysis published Sunday by Raymond James analyst Savanti Sis.
Frontier shares rose more than 6% in afternoon trading following the release of first-quarter results, outperforming the broader market.
Frontier said it expects unit prices to increase more than 20% in the second quarter, citing strong demand and reduced competition on its routes. The company expects adjusted loss per share to be 45 cents to 60 cents.
Frontier was originally planned as a merger partner for Spirit four years ago, but an all-cash offer from JetBlue in 2024 was ultimately blocked by a U.S. judge.
In Spirit’s final months, the airline added flights to its routes and hatched plans for expansion behind the scenes. For example, JetBlue announced it would add a number of services to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, Spirit’s former home.
