DALLAS — Denver (DEN)-based Frontier Airlines (F9) has followed fellow low-cost carriers JetBlue (B6) and Spirit Airlines (NK) in announcing that it has cancelled its order for the Airbus A321XLR. F9 has also postponed all orders for other Airbus aircraft. It has also converted 18 Airbus A320neo aircraft on order to Airbus A321neos.
The ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) had scheduled 11 A321neo aircraft for delivery during the rest of the year. However, F9 has pushed its order book from 2025 to 2029. In June this year, the airline ordered 198 aircraft, including 49 A320neo and 149 A321neo aircraft. Delivery of these aircraft is expected by 2029.
Postponement of Airbus orders
Frontier has pushed back previously scheduled aircraft delivery dates from 2025 to 2028 to a later period starting in 2029. The ULCC has also halved its delivery of Airbus aircraft, expecting 21 aircraft in 2025, 22 in 2026, 34 in 2027, 34 in 2028 and 36 in 2029. After 2030, F9 expects to deliver an additional 40 aircraft.
ULCC was the first US airline to order an Airbus A321XLR five years ago, in July 2019. However, given the capacity constraints, F9’s cancellation of the A321XLR is no surprise. Other airlines, including B6, have postponed their A321XLR orders to 2030. NK has postponed the delivery of its A320neo aircraft from 2030 to 2031.
