Frontier Airlines states that it experienced strengthening demand for leisure travel during the second quarter of 2021, with capacity exceeding the levels achieved in the comparable pre-COVID quarter in 2019.
Total operating revenues for the second quarter of 2021 totaled $550 million, an increase of 184% compared to the second quarter of 2020. The company was profitable on a GAAP basis – Frontier reported $19 million of net income on a GAAP basis during the quarter – and ended the quarter with $936 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, the highest cash balance in its history.
Frontier’s capacity during the quarter totaled 6,934 million ASMs and exceeded the 6,877 million ASMs achieved in the comparable pre-COVID quarter in 2019.
"I am extremely proud of our Frontier team for all of their hard work, dedication and professionalism with our customers through the pandemic and their commitment to our mission of Low Fares Done Right," said Barry Biffle, Frontier's president and CEO. “During the quarter, as the recovery in leisure travel progressed, our capacity exceeded the comparable pre-COVID quarter and we leveraged our financial discipline and relative cost advantage to be profitable on a GAAP basis. Our focus on leisure travel, along with the strength and resilience of our business model and available liquidity, positions us to continue to be an industry leader in the recovery.”
During the quarter, Frontier returned all of its aircraft and employees into service across all of its stations. Frontier had 109 aircraft at the end of the quarter, 11% higher than the corresponding prior year period. The airline is expected to take delivery of five additional A320neo aircraft in the third quarter of 2021 with no aircraft expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter.
Frontier has signed a letter of intent with two of its leasing partners to add ten additional A321 aircraft through direct leases, with deliveries expected to begin in the second half of 2022 and continuing into the first half of 2023.
The company generated approximately $60 of ancillary revenue per passenger, which was 6.1 percent higher than the ancillary revenue per passenger generated during the comparable pre-COVID quarter in 2019.