Frontier moves in on Spirit’s turf with 20 new routes

Is Spirit Airlines about to breach the final “Frontier?”

Frontier Airlines appears to be readying a knockout blow against its chief rival in the low-cost airfare space by announcing 20 new routes, set to begin later this year. That includes new routes from cities like Detroit, Houston, Baltimore, Fort Lauderdale, Charlotte, and Dallas, with more on the way for 2026. One-way fares for those routes will be as low as $29 (from Baltimore to Houston), and as high as $89 (from Detroit to Cancun). 

While those low fares may sound exciting to travelers, the additional routes also appear to serve as a major attempt at swiping customers away from struggling Spirit Airlines, which has said that it’s quickly losing lift. Spirit warned that it could not make it through the end of the year without more capital. 

In its latest quarterly report, filed earlier this month, the company noted that “adverse market conditions, including elevated domestic capacity and continued weak demand for domestic leisure travel in the second quarter of 2025, resulting in a challenging pricing environment. As a result, the Company continues to experience challenges and uncertainties in its business operations and expects these trends to continue for at least the remainder of 2025.”

This follows previous warnings from the company, including a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing late last year. It had also previously held merger talks with Frontier, which broke down in November. Frontier had also offered another merger earlier this year, which Spirit rejected. Now, it appears Frontier is going on offense, expanding its offerings, and potentially enticing away Spirit’s passengers—which could prove a death knell for the struggling airline.

“We see a clear path to being the number one low-fare carrier in the top 20 U.S. metros,” said Barry Biffle, CEO, Frontier Airlines, in a statement. “As industry capacity adjusts, we want to ensure consumers in those markets continue to have affordable flight options.”  

As a part of those adjustments, it’s possible that Biffle is hinting at Spirit’s potential grounding.