The merger of Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines, the two biggest low-cost air passenger carriers in the nation, could have a knock-on effect for air travelers here in the Rio Grande Valley.
The merger was announced Monday, and Frontier has been expanding its presence at Valley International Airport, with flights to Denver and Chicago and recently added direct flights to and from Orlando and Las Vegas.
Spirit does not offer flights at Valley International.
The merger is valued at $6.6 billion and is structured so that Frontier controls 51.5 percent of the combined airline while Spirit takes 48.5 percent.
“Both carriers are big in Florida and both have a presence in the eastern part of the country, but Frontier is more dominant in the West,” Jose Mulet, director of air service and business development at Valley International, said Monday.
“I am looking forward to seeing what strategy they will end up using in Chicago and Houston, as Frontier announced service from Midway and Hobby while Spirit is at O’Hare and Bush,” he added.
Nine years ago, Frontier and Spirit combined had 2.8 percent of the revenue passenger miles among U.S. airlines. By 2019, their combined share had increased to 5.4 percent.
“This transaction is centered around creating an aggressive ultra-low fare competitor to serve our guests even better,” Spirit CEO Ted Christie said in a statement.
Chairing the new airline will be Bill Franke, current chair of Frontier. It isn’t known whether the merged airlines will select a new name.
“Spirit flies to Central America from Bush besides U.S. larger domestic routes but has no presence in Hobby,” Mulet said, analyzing the impact here in Texas. “My guess is that Frontier will continue to grow in Harlingen more so after the merger, as combined, they will provide more connectivity.”
Later Monday, the Frontier-Spirit merger news was overshadowed by troubles in the Frontier system, which led to the temporary grounding of all of its U.S. flights. The airline blamed “automation issues.”
According to FlightAware, an airline monitoring website, Frontier canceled 22 percent of its Monday flights and saw about an equal number of flights delayed.
Two Frontier flights to Valley International, from Las Vegas and Orlando, were not affected Monday.
