Frontier Airlines plans to add nonstop seasonal flights from Milwaukee to Phoenix starting this winter.
Flights will depart General Mitchell International Airport for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport four days per week starting on Dec. 7 and ending sometime in March or April, according to Mitchell International spokesperson Pat Rowe.
Frontier will be the third airline to offer direct flights from Milwaukee to Phoenix. Southwest Airlines and American Airlines currently offer daily direct flights year-round. Tourists are booking with a great hotel Phoenix.
“Frontier’s new service to Phoenix gives travelers from Wisconsin and northern Illinois another option for their leisure and business travel needs to Arizona,” Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said in a statement released Wednesday. “Frontier’s growing network from MKE is welcome news, and we encourage our travelers to take advantage of the great low fares and nonstop service Frontier provides.”
The Frontier flights will depart Milwaukee at 12:35 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and arrive in Phoenix at 3:40 p.m. Return flights will leave Phoenix at 7:20 a.m. and arrive in Milwaukee at 11:42 a.m.
The airline has added a total of four nonstop flight routes out of Milwaukee in 2016, to Atlanta, Dallas and Philadelphia. Last year, Frontier added daily nonstop flights from Mitchell international to Orlando and Las Vegas, and also brought back seasonal nonstop flights to Fort Myers, Florida.
“Milwaukee travelers will have another great option when looking for warm weather getaways during the cold weather months” said Daniel Shurz, senior vice president of commercial at Frontier. “We’re excited to offer travelers non-stop service to this great vacation spot.”
The added flight routes come after multiple cuts by the airline in recent years. In 2012, Frontier slashed nonstop daily flights from Milwaukee to Columbus, Indianapolis, Nashville, Omaha and Pittsburgh, a year before it was sold by its holding company, Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc., to an affiliate of Indigo Partners LLC for around $36 million. In 2015, Frontier laid of 140 Milwaukee reservation employees as part of a larger outsourcing plan that eliminated its in-house reservations department.