Frontier Airlines CEO says the low-cost carrier model is ‘alive and well’

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle said the ultra-low- cost carrier model is ‘alive and well’ in the United States amid claims from industry peers that the model is struggling. 

The Denver-based airline said it is committed to becoming the leading low-fare carrier in the top 20 U.S. metros and will help fill gaps left by Spirit Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month for the second time in a year. 

“You’ve got too much domestic supply and that is hurting yields across the domestic landscape and that’s hurting everyone,” CEO Barry Biffle told a travel conference in New York on Wednesday. 

Biffle said that in the next one to two years there will be fewer seats across the industry from ultra-low-cost-carriers to legacy carriers.  

United Airlines’ CEO Scott Kirby has been a vocal critic of the business model of no-frills airlines and has repeatedly questioned their viability.

He called the ultra-low-cost airline business model “an interesting experiment,” which has “failed.”

(Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )