Frontier tabs Washington Dulles for massive expansion

Frontier Airlines is betting big on Washington's Dulles International Airport.

The carrier on Tuesday said it would add the airport to its route map starting in August, planning an aggressive launch that will make Dulles its third-busiest destination within a month of beginning service there.

Frontier plans 14 nonstop destinations from Dulles, phasing in that schedule between mid-August and mid-September.

Once the new schedule is fully implemented, only Frontier's main hub in Denver and its focus city in Trenton, N.J., will have more nonstop destinations on Frontier.

Frontier spokeswoman Kate O'Malley tells Today in the Sky that while Dulles will be a focus city for Frontier, it's not being developed as a connecting hub like the one Frontier operates in Denver.

Frontier adds that it has not accelerated new aircraft orders or made widespread route cancellations elsewhere to launch the new D.C. service.

Instead, Frontier freed up the capacity for the new Dulles service through an "increased utilization of our existing fleet," O'Malley says to Today in the Sky.

Still, Frontier continues to tweak its schedule at its other focus cities. The carrier on Monday announced it would drop its just-launched service between Wilmington, Del., and Detroit. Ending that route, however, would provide only a fraction of the lift Frontier would need for its new Dulles schedule.

As for that new Dulles schedule, Frontier plans daily service on only one of its 14 new routes: Orlando. On the other routes, Frontier will offer a schedule of anywhere from three to six flights per week. Frontier's other Washington destinations will be:

Atlanta: Service starts Aug. 19. Six weekly flights

Charlotte: Service starts Aug. 20. Five weekly flights

Chicago O'Hare: Service starts Sept. 15. Six weekly flights

Cincinnati: Service starts Sept. 8. Four weekly flights

Detroit: Service starts Sept. 8. Six weekly flights

Fort Lauderdale: Service starts Sept. 9. Four weekly flights

Fort Myers, Fla.: Service starts Sept. 9. Four weekly flights

Las Vegas: Service starts Sept. 8 Four weekly flights

Memphis: Service starts Sept. 8. Four weekly flights

Minneapolis/St. Paul: Service starts Aug. 20. Six weekly flights

Orlando: Service starts Aug. 19. Daily service

St. Augustine, Fla.: Service starts Sept. 8. Five weekly flights

St. Louis: Service starts Sept. 8. Three weekly flights

Tampa: Service starts Aug. 21. Four weekly flights