Low-fare airline Frontier has followed in the wake of other US airlines, Jet Blue and Spirit, after it announced it would defer its Airbus orders, converting 18 A320neo aircraft to A321neos, and will not purchase any A321XLR aircraft.
Frontier has 11 A321neo aircraft scheduled for delivery in the remaining months of 2024 but has rearranged its order book from 2025 to 2029. In June 2024, it had orders for 198 aircraft: 49 A320neo and 149 A321neo aircraft, with deliveries expected through 2029.
Now, it has deferred the previously scheduled firm aircraft delivery dates from 2025 to 2028 to “later years” (2029 onwards). It has cut its delivery of Airbus aircraft in half, expecting 21 in 2025, 22 in 2026, 34 in 2027, 34 in 2028, and 36 in 2029. 2030 thereafter, it expects 40 aircraft to be delivered.
As for the XLR, Frontier was the first US airline to order the jet in July 2019. Now, however, given capacity constraints, this announcement to cancel comes as little surprise.
Jet Blue has delayed its A321XLR orders to 2030, whilst Spirit Airlines has postponed deliveries of its A320neo family aircraft until 2030-2031.
Photo: Frontier
