Frontier Airlines has flown one million passengers out of Trenton-Mercer Airport in its four years
EWING -- Frontier Airlines reached a milestone this week when it passed the one-million-passenger mark at Trenton-Mercer Airport, a sign of its continuing success and of good things to come, a Frontier executive said Friday.
"There was understandably some skepticism when we started service four years ago about commercial viability given the history of other airlines in this airport, but we've proven that we have a service that works," said Daniel Shurz, senior vice president of commercial.
Shurz's visit came as the summer schedule gets underway. He and other company executives have been making stops across the country as Frontier introduced or resumed 63 flights in its network.
This summer, passengers flying out of Trenton-Mercer can travel to Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando, Raleigh-Durham and Tampa.
Though there are fewer routes and less frequent flights compared to last year, Shurz said the airline's target audience is leisure and small-business travelers, who are often willing to change their travel days if it means saving a couple hundred dollars on the fare.
"It's about getting the right level of capacity into a market because you do get a few more customers when you fly daily ... but in some places, we don't get enough additional customers or enough additional revenue," he said.
He teased that more destinations could be on the horizon as Frontier's non-fuel costs continue to go down -- even places the airline tried before and abandoned.
"Our costs are lower so we can actually have lower fares and stimulate demand better than we could two years ago," he said.
Decisions on new destinations are made based on a number of factors, including the route's demand from Newark and Philadelphia airports, the average fare levels and the potential cost savings for customers.
"It's much better if you can find markets that are overpriced in other airports because that creates a clear value for the service here at Trenton," Shurz said. "If there's enough stimulation potential to fill our airplanes, then we try it out but not everything we try works."
Even as the airline has added domestic and international flights to Philadelphia, Shurz said the two airports are complimentary.
"These two airports are in some of the densest population in the country so it's perfectly sustainable to have service from both airports," he said.
Trenton-Mercer, he said, is seen as an origin airport, one that potential customers in Central New Jersey and Bucks County, Pa., know exist.
"It's important for us that Trenton fly to destinations that people really want to go to out of this area," Shurz said.
He said Trenton-Mercer, on a margin basis, is one of Frontier's more profitable airports. It offers a more hassle-free alternative to the bigger airports and lets travelers get from the car to their gate in less than 10 minutes.
"It's, in some ways, the way flying was when far fewer people flew, but we do it with low fares as well," he said. "We give customers all the benefits of being a big airport with low fares, but we give them the small airport experience flying from here."
Shurz said Frontier and the county share a great partnership and would continue to work together for years to come.
"It was strange to us in 2012 to find an airport in such a densely populated area of the country with no commercial service," he said. "There are a lot of airlines that wouldn't fly from an airport like this ... but what we saw was a great opportunity."
The airline is now looking into introducing slightly larger aircraft that would be able to accommodate more passengers, while the county has plans for a new terminal.
Aaron Watson, deputy county administrator and director of transportation, said the county is working with the Federal Aviation Administration's regional office on its master plan and once that's complete, will shift its focus to the terminal.
"The key for us is to maintain the airport's cost competitiveness," Shurz said. "We're going to work with them as their plans evolve and I think we'll ensure it's the right sort of terminal if and when a new terminal gets built."
Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.