The CEO of Frontier Airlines, Barry Biffle, decided to record a video about the airline’s financial prospects for employees. But he was on an airplane and it’s not the sort of thing you can do from your seat – especially a Frontier seat where you’re crammed in with your neighbors.
So he did what any CEO would do – he went to the lavatory, sat down, and hit record. Here’s video:
Frontier Airlines lost money in the first quarter, which Biffle attributes to a “demand shock.” All of the airlines have been reporting that premium cabins have remained steady, but demand for coach travel is falling off. Frontier only has coach (though they’re adding first class). In fact, Frontier is the bottom end of the coach demand curve.
United’s CEO Scott Kirby basically says that Frontier gets whatever passengers he allows them to have – because if he lowers prices to fill seats, customers will choose United over Frontier.
Biffle says that if things recover they’ll be profitable in the second half of the year. That’s pinning hopes on macro trends lifting their business, when most betting suggests things are trending downward.
They’ve reduced capacity on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. These are still the lowest-demand days. I flew Southwest on Tuesday and everyone who wanted an open middle seat next to them got one – no need to place bags of donuts or crumpled tissues to do it either.
I’ve never seen a CEO record an employee speech from a bathroom. Personally, I’d wait until I had a better venue.
But, more importantly, and as a “thought leader in travel,” you should have highlighted the SUBSTANCE of Biffle’s remarks — especially the OFFICIAL version shared with investors in the company’s quarter earnings report. Wall Street certainly paid attention, as US airline stocks strongly rallied on Friday largely based on his comments. The demand shock for domestic economy that the airlines saw from late February to mid March seems to be largely over. The scary tariff headlines and the crash in the stock market caused a quick and unexpected pullback among price-sensitive travellers. But it’s turned out that the economy has weathered those problems, and people (outside of federal government work) aren’t losing their jobs. So demand is returning — perhaps as quickly as it fell (we’ll need a few more weeks to be sure). We’ve also seen a bounceback in the stock market to the levels it reached when Trump was elected in November.
All this is good news for Frontier. While Frontier still needs to find a business model that actually works, the return of price sensitive domestic leisure travellers is good news for them. Now, they almost certainly won’t go broke this year and MIGHT actually be profitable later this year. If Scott Kirby truly believed Frontier would fail this year, he’s going to be a bit disappointed.
Please, I want Frontier (and Spirit) to survive. If they don’t, at least some of their passengers will start showing up on my flights
Frontier’s issues have nothing to do with a strategy and business model resilient enough to withstand economic volatility. Right, Barry? (Note the sarcastic tone).
So United decides if passengers fly United or Frontier based on United’s fares? Not so with Alaska because Alaska has a slightly better frequent flyer program. That shows how giving a little to the passenger can result is loyalty. Alaska’s Mileage Plan is not that great but it is among the best in the U.S. Only United’s Mileage Plus is competitive because it has some of the greatest Asia Pacific airline partners, like ANA, EVA Air, and Singapore, while Alaska has to do with JAL and, still small Starlux. (And Alaska has worthless British Airways, with it’s lousy fuel surcharges).
How positively ghetto recording while you’re in the inside of the LAV.
You mean to tell me Frontier is primarily doing turns now and is not turning a profit??? That’s basically speaking volumes on how the airline will do 2, 3 years from now. I would imagine many Frontier and Southwest passengers have begun to just switch over to Delta and United. There is not a ton of incentive to fly Southwest and Frontier
Barry Biffle is a fitting CEO for a dumpster fire of an airline like Frontier. Any normal CEO would have filmed that speech in an airline club (any club, just pay the daily entrance fee), filming it in the aircraft lav is positively disgusting.
I guess he really had to get that message out.
The reality is that ALL of the big 3 are adding enough capacity to limit ULCC and LCCs from thriving as they once did – and the entire industry is being driven by high costs that are incompatible w/ the LCC and ULCC models.
AA and DL execs are just not smart enough to talk about how much they will open their revenue management systems to take economy basic fares so they can eliminate ULCCs.
F9 and NK need to be allowed to merge this time. Whether NK would have ended up in BK if the two had merged before B6 butted into the deal is an open question. But NK is about as “cleaned up” as it can get and there is a place and a need for ULCCs in the US marketplace esp. as WN fares become less and less value-focused as they add fees to fares that previously had very few add ons.
@Tim Dunn “ I guess he really had to get that message out.”
I see what you did there. Heh, heh, heh…
“Barry Biffle” is a pseudonym. Change my mind….
I guess Frontier is really in the shitter!
Did he push one out since he was seated in the lav?
@Chopsticks – While the stock market has risen somewhat, I don’t think we are out of the woods yet as far as the economy is concerned. The customers Frontier and Spirit attract are starting to realize that their Shein, Temu, and Alibaba products are no longer a hack for low prices as the tariffs hit. Many companies filled their warehouses before tariffs hit, but those supplies won’t last forever.
It’s possible Trump will cave on China tariffs, but I don’t think China plans on blinking first. It’s not a disaster yet, but it could be soon, and one which is not easily recovered from. Truck drivers and dock workers demand is already slowing. Why did UPS turn down additional Amazon packages, and instead reduced what they will accept?
The real elephant in the room is what Trump really plans to do with Iran. I don’t think Trump really wants to start a war, but Israel may force his hands. A war with Iran will shut down the Persian Gulf and the associated oil supply, and that will put a permanent end to both Spirit and Frontier. Did Trump move six B2 bombers to Diego Garcia only in hopes of making a deal or is he willing to use them? The two month negotiating timeframe is nearly up, with unclear signals of whether the negotiations are heading towards success.
I believe Trump really wants a Nobel Peace Prize, and Ukraine-Russia doesn’t seem like it’s heading in a Nobel Peace Prize direction. But, the world is quite unpredictable, and so is the economy.
@Tim Dunn — Zing! 10/10.
@John H — Nice hypothesis. But you forgot Taiwan. That’s a biggie unless he’s folding on that, too.
@John H – I agree that there are many possible pitfalls for this US economy this year. But, for the moment, things are generally OK. The tariff “crisis” was oversold and with few private sector job losses, people have gone back to their normal lives. The stock market needed a correction because it was in dot.com like bubble territory. Not sure what happens next, but it’s now FAR less likely Frontier goes broke this year. For Frontier, that’s “winning.”
Frontier Airlines struggles stem from CEO, Barry Biffle. These incidents, of which there are many, highlight the unprofessional behavior that is a result of an unclear vision and poor decision-making that trickles down, fostering inconsistency and eroding employee morale and customer trust. Frontier Pilots see it every day.
https://youtu.be/y4y3uKU0Boo?si=5Ds-gMhwD56ncPTk