ST. CROIX — Frontier Airlines has expanded its service to St. Croix.
The low-fare, environmentally-conscious airline operates in about 120 destinations in the United States, Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America.
Frontier Airlines, which has a mission to make traveling “easy, affordable, and enjoyable,” began service between St. Croix and Orlando, Florida May 25. Its inaugural flight between St. Croix and San Juan, Puerto Rico was Sunday.
Frontier, which has flown between San Juan and St. Thomas for the past few years, now operates on St. Croix four days a week. The airline serves St. Croix on Saturdays between Orlando, and on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays between San Juan.
Barry Biffle, Frontier CEO, greeted passengers Saturday at Henry E. Rohlsen Airport after they arrived on the Frontier flight from Orlando before meeting up on island with Tourism Commissioner Joseph Boschulte. He flew out Sunday on Frontier’s inaugural flight to San Juan.
“We’re really excited about St. Croix because No. 1, we think we can bring low fares and tourism to St. Croix, and we also already fly to St. Thomas,” Biffle said from the airport. “And so, with our service from Orlando nonstop, as well as our connections over San Juan with the nonstop service from San Juan, we can bring a lot more tourists to St. Croix than have been coming, especially with our low fares, that entices more people to come.”
Biffle said it is “exciting” for the airline, its employees, and its customers to add St. Croix as a new destination.
“St. Croix is just such a marquee destination, especially from the mainland U.S.,” he said. “Everyone wants to go to the Caribbean.”
When travelers arrive at the Rohlsen airport to fly aboard Frontier, they will check in with the airline at the desk located next to Cape Air.
The average consumer interested in traveling to the Caribbean would like to visit a U.S. territory first, Biffle said.
“It’s really exciting for us to add more service,” he said about expanding to St. Croix. “We've had a huge success in St. Thomas, and we expect to have the same thing here.”
Biffle pointed out that Frontier has also made it cheaper for residents to get off island. After doing well in the St. Thomas market, he said it was a natural fit for Frontier to expand its operations to St. Croix.
“As we build up our gateway and our new base in San Juan, you'll be able to go to other places in the Caribbean, not necessarily same-day connection, but you're going to find a really inexpensive option, go spend the night in San Juan, and then you can get down to St. Maarten, or to Trinidad, or Barbados later this summer, as well as the mainland U.S.,” Biffle said.
Frontier, which is headquartered in Denver and will be celebrating its 30th anniversary next month, boasts itself as the must fuel-efficient U.S. airline. It realizes an average of 43% fuel savings compared to other U.S. airlines because its fleet of new, fuel-efficient airplanes fly more often by operating 12 hours a day when the industry average is 10 hours a day, weighing 4,000 pounds less than the competition by eliminating things like TV monitors, and including a seating configuration that eliminates first class to provide more economy seats.
“Everything we do is about making sure that we have low prices for all consumers,” Biffle, who lives in Denver, said.
When it comes to fuel consumption, Biffle said Frontier’s aircraft are twice as efficient as the major airlines.
“We have one of the most efficient fleets in the United States,” he said. “We have an average fleet age of about four years, and we burn a lot less fuel.”
Biffle said the price of fares fluctuate depending on the needs of travelers as Frontier offers four primary products — basic, economy, premium, and business. Basic includes a personal item, while economy travelers can bring a personal item and carry-on bag in addition to choosing their seat and not being required to pay any change or cancel fees. Premium provides all the features of economy but includes extra legroom and first boarding priority. Business provides all the features of premium as well as an empty middle seat for additional room and two checked bags.
“Regardless of how much stuff you’re carrying, or if you want to pick your seat, you’re going to find the lowest price at flyfrontier.com,” Biffle said.
In addition to flying “green” with its weight-saving tactics and modern, fuel-efficient fleet, Frontier is committed to highlighting and helping preserve the unique and extraordinary animals found throughout North America. To raise awareness about animals that are endangered or unique to a destination, every Frontier aircraft features a special animal on its tail.
As Frontier continues expanding its fleet, Biffle suggested collaborating with Virgin Islanders to identify an animal unique to the territory that could be placed on the tail of an aircraft to help bring awareness or promote conservation efforts.
“It’s great for us to look after endangered or near endangered animals,” Biffle said, noting the tails of all 142 Frontier airplanes are decorated with an image of an animal. “Almost every one of them has a unique story.”
Now that Frontier has service to both St. Croix and St. Thomas, demand for the flights will determine whether the airline adds additional routes to the territory.
“We’re not going away,” Biffle said. “I will tell you that we will grow or shrink based on how well the service does. So, I tell communities this all the time, you get the service you deserve. So, if you fly the service, we’ll probably add more. If you don’t fly the service, well, we’ll pull back, but we hope that everybody will try us out. I think you’re going to enjoy it and I think you’ll love the low fares and the great service.”
