Frontier Airlines hasn’t started flying to its second destination from Northwest Arkansas National Airport yet, but today it announced what its third city will be.
Nonstop flights from XNA to Orlando International Airport start Nov. 1, departing every Monday and Friday.
XNA’s three low-cost carriers are battling hard for Northwest Arkansas leisure travelers. Frontier, Allegiant Air and newcomer Breeze Airways have announced a combined nine nonstop destinations from XNA since the start of the year.
Frontier has done well in recent months with its XNA-to-Denver flights. The 26 flights departing XNA in the past two months averaged 160 passengers. It flies 180-seat Airbuses.
Frontier’s decision to fly to Orlando intensifies its competition for travelers with Allegiant. Allegiant for years has flown from XNA to its busy operation at Orlando Sanford International Airport, but the new Frontier flights to Orlando International Airport provide closer access to Walt Disney World and other
While Frontier’s trips to Orlando will be new, XNA once had nonstop service to Orlando’s primary airport. Delta Air Lines operated the nonstop flights to its Orlando hub about 15 years ago, but those flights were among the casualties of Delta’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2005.
Frontier has added two nonstop destinations from XNA in recent week. It announced in late June that would fly twice each week to Las Vegas, starting Aug. 13.
The airline has offered flights to Denver since June 2019, and it recently increased how often it’ll fly to that city from XNA.
XNA is witnessing its biggest air service surge since it opened in 1998. The new XNA nonstop flights this year include:
- Allegiant flying to Austin, and that twice-a-week flight started July 2.
- Allegiant going to St. Pete/Clearwater, starting July 2.
- Breeze Airways, a new airline, making XNA among the first airports it’ll serve. It’s now flying nonstop to Tampa and New Orleans four times each week, and San Antonio twice a week.
- Frontier adding Las Vegas and Orlando nonstops to its XNA offerings.
- Allegiant later this year starting flights to Fort Lauderdale and Houston’s Hobby airport.
