Frontier Airlines on Thursday announcedsix new nonstop flight destinations from Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
The budget airline will now service Buffalo, Houston, Milwaukee, New Orleans, San Antonio and San Juan, Puerto Rico. After these additions, Frontier will fly nonstop to 15 cities from RDU.
These additional flights means airlines will service 53 cities with nonstop flights from RDU, including London and Paris. Delta is the largest carrier at RDU with nonstop flights to 26 cities. Southwest flies to 14 cities and American Airlines to 12 cities.
Frontier Vice President for Marketing Tyri Squyres cited the Triangle's rapid growth as one of the main reasons for expanding its flight offerings here.
"Those people are going to want to stay connected with their friends and families and loved ones," she said. "And you need the infrastructure to support that."
She added that not all new flights will start out with daily service.
"We're going in pretty conservatively... so then we can try and test and really optimize what we are offering," she said.
Frontier is known for its piecemeal pricing structure. A checked bag can cost as much as $60, if it exceeds size limits, and even carry-on luggage can run passengers $60 if they wait until the departure gate to pay. Because of those fees, however, the airline can charge less for tickets. In some cases, flights cost as little as $29 for a one-way ticket.
"For $29 don’t go to the movies this weekend," said Squyres. "You can actually have a life experience. And that's what we're offering."