Assuming Spirit and Frontier complete their newly-announced merger, the combined network will achieve greater scale in many of the nation’s leading leisure destinations. Orlando will become the new airline’s busiest airport, followed by Fort Lauderdale. This is significant because both carriers have heavy Florida exposure at a time when industry capacity to Florida is increasing sharply (domestic seats to Florida this quarter are up 10% even from pre-Covid levels). By merging, the two ultra-low-cost carriers can alleviate some of this competitive pressure in the sunshine state.
Frontier, meanwhile, will no longer be quite so dependent on Denver, a market that held up well during the pandemic but is nevertheless extremely competitive with United and Southwest both large Mile High players.
Spirit and Frontier will also gain scale in other big-city hub markets like Atlanta and Chicago.
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