TRENTON — Though the
ownership of Frontier Airlines is close to changing, Mercer County can
expect the airline’s presence to continue to grow, a top executive told a
crowd in Trenton today.
Daniel Shurz, a senior vice president at
Frontier, said the airline saw great potential in the region when it
chose to begin flying out of Trenton-Mercer Airport, and said the future
looks bright during a luncheon sponsored by the Mid-Jersey Chamber of
Commerce as part of Trenton’s Small Business Week.
“We don’t think anyone has approached this airport the right way before,” Shurz said.
There
is a huge potential market for flights in the area, but it is important
to focus on routes that will have a high volume of customers and less
low-cost competition, Shurz said. By doing this, Frontier has tapped
into an underserved market, he said.
“This is the most densely
populated area in the country. There are 2.5 million people that live
closer to Trenton-Mercer Airport than to any other airport with
commercial service,” Shurz said.
That is comparable to population
of the Denver area, where Frontier is based; an area that sees more
than 700 flights a day, Shurz said. Customers can be in the terminal in
Ewing 20 minutes after they leave their homes, Shurz said.
One
challenge Trenton-Mercer has presented Frontier with is that the airport
was not active with another commercial airline recently, Shurz said.
“We’ve marketed this airline and the airport,” Shurz said. “We’re getting more people to try the airport,” Shurz said.
In
addition, it has been more difficult to measure success through the
first year because Frontier is not as accustomed to setting up in an
airport that does not already have commercial flights, he said. The
company has, however, exceeded the goals that it set for the area.
“This
has been a region that is, in a sense, crying out for lower fares,”
Shurz said. “And the initial reaction suggests the future is bright.”
Shurz
said that the airline will likely continue to expand at Trenton-Mercer,
but he would not say if the company has any solid plans for new
destinations beyond the recently announced additions of Cincinnati,
Ohio, and Charlotte, N.C.
The airline, which has suspended
service during a project to renovate the airport’s main runway,
terminal, and parking lots, is scheduled to resume service in Mercer on
Nov. 8 and has already begun selling flights for that date on its
website.
“We keep telling the airport that whatever additional
capacity they make available, we’ll keep putting more planes in to use
up the capacity,” Shurz said.
Frontier is hesitant about flying
up to the Boston area because it is less that a 5-hour drive, and that
tends to reduce the demand for flights, but the airline has considered
it, Shurz said.
The airline is also looking at how it can build a
direct flight to Denver into the future plans at Trenton-Mercer, Shurz
said, not only because the city is a great destination but also because
it would present customers with the opportunity to take advantage of
many connecting flights. Frontier is based in Denver and a direct flight
from Trenton-Mercer to Denver would open connections as far as
California, Alaska and Cancun.
As the airline nears a sale which
would land it under the ownership of Indigo Partners, a firm that is
associated with the budget-priced Spirit Airlines, some members of the
audience questioned whether that would affect the way it operates.
“Fundamentally
we’re known for being a reliable, friendly airline, and we want to
continue to be a reliable, friendly airline,” Shurz said.
Frontier is different than Spirit, Shurz said, but the company would like to get their costs on par with Spirit’s.
Frontier
is already charging some customers for carry-on baggage and for seat
assignments. Shurz said that the most likely change would be an
expansion of these policies, but he does not expect much more of an
effect to customer experience.
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