Frontier Airlines will begin new, nonstop routes from St. Augustine’s Northeast Florida Regional Airport to Chicago and Philadelphia next week, offering area residents an alternative to driving to Jacksonville International Airport to catch a flight to those cities.
Frontier will begin service to Chicago on April 14, with the nonstop route to Philadelphia beginning the following day. To inaugurate the new routes, the airline offered low introductory fares, with savings of as much as 64 percent off the industry average fare. Flights between St. Augustine and Chicago will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, while flights to Philadelphia will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
“There has been a high level of interest in both Philadelphia and Chicago for the new service to Northeast Florida/St. Augustine,” Northeast Florida Regional Airport Executive Director Edward Wuellner said. “The airport has been working with the Visitors and Convention Bureau and with Frontier to advertise and promote the new service in the Philadelphia and Chicago areas.”
When asked about the possibility of adding nonstop flights from St. Augustine to other major metropolitan cities, Wuellner said the success of the new Chicago and Philadelphia routes could play a role in making that happen.
“Local support will lead to the success of these new routes,” he said. “A successful launch of the new markets will allow the airport to tell the story of Northeast Florida to airlines and continue to work to identify opportunities for future service additions.”
