Airlines Confidential · Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Frontier Airlines CEO Jimmy Dempsey addressed the challenges facing the ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) market, particularly in the post-COVID environment influenced by major airlines' loyalty programs and basic economy offerings. Dempsey noted that while Frontier and Spirit were profitable pre-COVID, the landscape has shifted.
“Spent years proving that there was a large market for ultra-low-cost model in the US, but spirit's collapse has raised questions about that model.”
“Well, I mean, it's not that spirit got something wrong, per se. I mean, the environment has changed.”
“Uh, if you looked at the airline business in the United States pre-COVID, um, both Frontier and spirit were very successful and very profitable airlines among the most profitable airlines in the world.”