America’s ultra-low-cost (ULCC) airlines are on a roll. Breeze Airways, Frontier Airlines, and Allegiant have all unveiled significant route expansions for late 2025/early 2026, reinforcing their shared strategy of targeting underserved airports, secondary cities, and leisure-heavy markets.

Breeze continues its aggressive expansion, planting its flag in new cities like Tri-Cities, TN, and Lincoln, NE. Frontier is bulking up at New York-JFK. Allegiant is launching another wave of seasonal Florida service. Together, these moves indicate that America’s ULCCs are not backing down from point-to-point flying and regional growth anytime soon.

Here is what you need to know about the ULCC expansion.

Breeze Airways Keeps Up the Momentum: 7 New Routes and 2 New Cities

Breeze Airways is adding another layer to its growing route map, focusing on point-to-point leisure and regional expansion. The airline will soon launch seven new routes, including first-time service to Tri-Cities, TN (TRI) and Lincoln, NE (LNK), adding two more pins to its rapidly expanding network.

New Breeze Routes:

• TRI to Washington Dulles (IAD)
• TRI to Orlando (MCO)
• LNK to Orlando (MCO)
• Raleigh-Durham (RDU) to Portsmouth, NH (PSM)
• Manchester, NH (MHT) to Myrtle Beach (MYR)
• Fort Myers (RSW) to Albany (ALB)
• Fort Myers (RSW) to Rochester, NY (ROC)

These additions are classic Breeze: skipping the hubs and connecting city pairs on a less-than-daily schedule that the majors often overlook. The Tri-Cities and Lincoln additions push Breeze closer to CEO David Neeleman’s goal of serving 150 cities by 2030.

Frontier Goes Big: 15 New Routes, Two New Cities, and JFK Growth

Frontier is making waves with its latest announcement, which will add a whopping 15 new routes, two brand-new destinations, and even more growth at JFK. The growth at JFK is somewhat interesting, as it is a relatively premium base for a ULCC. Still, Frontier must sniff an opportunity for growth there, or they wouldn’t be going in. 

Notable New Frontier Routes:

• Atlanta (ATL) to Omaha, NE (OMA) and Richmond, VA (RIC)
• Dallas-Ft.Worth (DFW) to Charleston, SC (CHS), El Paso (ELP), Tucson (TUS)
• Tampa (TPA) to Kansas City (MCI), St. Louis (STL)
• Phoenix (PHX) to San Antonio (SAT)
• Denver (DEN) to Tulsa (TUL), Richmond (RIC), Corpus Christi (CRP)
• Newark (EWR) to Chicago Midway (MDW)
• JFK to Chicago O’Hare (ORD) and Denver (DEN)

The additions of Corpus Christi (CRP) and Richmond (RIC) expand Frontier’s reach into markets with relatively light ULCC coverage. Flights from DEN to both cities will operate 2x weekly starting in October.

At JFK, Frontier is now operating 10 routes, which is a significant footprint for a ULCC at one of the country’s busiest and most premium-focused airports. JFK to Chicago and Denver will launch later this fall, each operating less than daily.

Allegiant Joins the Party: A Midwest–Florida Winter Surge

Not to be outdone, Allegiant is rolling out a wave of seasonal service connecting the Midwest to Florida in time for snowbird season. Based on the newly released schedule, Allegiant will add over a dozen new round-trip routes beginning in mid-November 2025. Amid the flurry of route additions is one new city for Allegiant: Fort Myers (RSW). 

New Allegiant Routes (Starting 12-21 November 2025):

• Allentown, PA (ABE), Appleton, WI (ATW), and Des Moines, IA (DSM) to Fort Myers (RSW)
• Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to Fort Wayne, IN (FWA)
• Nashville (BNA) to Gulf Shores, AL (GUF)
• New Orleans (MSY) to Punta Gorda, FL (PGD)
• Sarasota, FL (SRQ) to Toledo, OH (TOL)

Other new pairings include PGD–MSY, RSW–DSM, and FWA–FLL, with a focus on warm-weather escapes and secondary airports. For those who’ve followed Allegiant over the years, you know this approach has long been a cornerstone of their strategy.

What’s clear here is a coordinated bet on leisure travel peaking late Q4 into the holidays. Unlike Breeze and Frontier, Allegiant’s routes start just in time for Thanksgiving getaways.

Contrast with Avelo: A Strategic Retreat from the West Coast

In a sharp contrast to these expansion stories, Avelo Airlines recently announced it will end West Coast service by early December 2025, including its base at Burbank (BUR). The move follows what the airline cited as high costs and stiff competition in the West.

Instead, Avelo is focusing future growth on East Coast and Florida markets—though with Breeze, Allegiant, and Frontier all doubling down in those regions, the competition may just be heating up again in a different neighborhood.

You can read more about Avelo’s West Coast exit here.

ULCCs Double Down Where Others Cut Back

While legacy carriers continue to trim regional operations and consolidate, America’s ULCCs are taking a different approach by doubling down on underserved cities, adding seasonal point-to-point flights, and even challenging big boys at airports like JFK.

Even Spirit Airlines joined the party last week, announcing new flights from Macon, GA (MCN) and Key West (EWY) to its FLL hub. Spirit will operate the flights two and four times weekly, respectively. 

From new cities like Lincoln and Corpus Christi to expanded frequencies from Fort Myers and Denver, the trend is clear: low-cost flying isn’t going anywhere—and in fact, it’s going everywhere.