DALLAS — Frontier Airlines (F9) today announced that it will open a new crew base at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) in May 2024. The ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) expects to employ approximately 80 pilots and 160 flight attendants within the first year of the base's operation.

The new crew base and related airport and maintenance positions are expected to generate nearly US$27 million annually in local wages, with the expectation of additional growth in subsequent years.

The airline also announced it would re-open a pilot base serving both O’Hare (ORD) and Midway International (MDW) airports in May 2024. F9 previously maintained a pilot base in Chicago until April 2022.

The Chicago base is expected to employ up to 110 pilots within its first year of operation. Combined with 190 existing flight attendant positions, the ORD base will house a total of 300 Frontier crew members.

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Cincinnati as a Focus City

Headquartered in Denver, CO, F9 considers CVG one of its key focus cities, from which it operates 12 nonstop routes. These include:

• Atlanta (ATL)
• Cancun (CUN)
• Denver (DEN)
• Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)
• Las Vegas (LAS)
• Orlando (MCO)
• Miami (MIA)
• Philadelphia (PHL)
• Phoenix (PHX)
• Fort Myers (RSW)
• Tampa (TPA)
• Raleigh-Durham (RDU)

When announcing the new base, Barry Biffle, CEO of Frontier, touted the economic benefits to the greater Cincinnati area. CVG CEO Candace McGraw called F9's expansion a "vote of confidence" in the region.

Frontier is part of Indigo Partners, LLC, an American private equity firm that has a controlling interest in the airline, along with the Chilean low-cost JetSmart. Indigo also holds stakes in Mexican budget airline Volaris and European low-cost carrier Wizz Air (W6).

Frontier operates an all-Airbus fleet, including various configurations of A320s and A321s.

Featured image: Frontier N369FR Airbus A320neo. Photo: Ryan Scottini/Airways