The most popular and revenue-generating US airport pair is New York JFK-Los Angeles International. According to US Department of Transportation data, 2.7 million roundtrip passengers flew between the two airports, including point-to-point and transfer flights, in the year ending September 2024. They spent $973 million.
Frontier launches flights in May.
Currently, American, Delta, and JetBlue serve JFK-Los Angeles nonstop. Given the latter’s ongoing problems and the resulting network modifications, it has discontinued flights between JFK and Burbank (in October 2024) and Long Beach (in October 2020). This leaves Los Angeles and returns in April to Ontario.
Frontier Airlines will launch a daily JFK-Los Angeles service on May 1 as part of their newest JFK expansion. This service will begin roughly a year after Frontier’s debut at JFK on June 6, 2024, to San Juan.
JFK-Los Angeles will be Frontier’s new longest route, exceeding Orlando-San Francisco in distance and JFK-Las Vegas in maximum block time. It’s the carrier’s second-longest route ever. Only Denver-Punta Cana, which operated from 2012 to 2015, covered more distance.
Given the stage duration and time zone changes, it is not surprise that it will be an overnight flight from California, as indicated here. All times are local.
- JFK-Los Angeles: F92503, 11:00-14:11 (6 hour 11 minute block time)
- Los Angeles-JFK: F92504, 21:20-06:00+1 (5 hours 40 minutes).
The first entrant after United pulled out
Frontier is the first carrier to resume JFK-Los Angeles flights since United Airlines discontinued the service (and pulled out of JFK) in October 2022. Alaska Airlines, which took over the route from Virgin America, discontinued it in October 2021. It focuses on Newark/Los Angeles.
Neither Frontier nor Spirit has previously served JFK-Los Angeles. Indeed, the troubled Spirit did not fly to JFK. Spirit operates Newark-Los Angeles twice daily, although this will be reduced to once a day once Frontier begins.
JFK-Los Angeles has up to 33 daily flights.
Once Frontier has entered the market, Cirium Diio data shows that the airport pair (not the city pair) will have up to 33 daily take-offs in each direction, although this number does vary somewhat.
The airport pair has had up to 41 daily departures during the last 20 years, with the most recent occurring in August 2015. The market’s non-stop offering in May 2025 will be as follows, though details may change at other times:
- American operates nine daily flights using 102-seater A321 Transcontinental aircraft.
- Delta: up to 11 everyday. 767-300ER
- Frontier: Daily A320neo
- JetBlue: up to 12 daily A321ceo/A321neo
Based on the carriers’ schedule submission to Cirium, there will be an average of 163 seats per flight. This is very marginally more than the average in the past 20 years (156). It’ll be the third-highest May in the last two decades, surpassed by May 2021 (169 seats per flight) and May 2004 (168).
Snapshot: May 1, 2025
Consider Thursday, May 1, the day of Frontier’s first departure, to show the extent of JFK-Los Angeles activity. That day, all of these flights will leave JFK. The details may change:
- 06:00: American, A321T
- 06:00: Delta, 767-300ER
- 06:00: JetBlue, A321ceo/neo
- 07:00: American, A321T
- 07:00: Delta, 767-300ER
- 07:00: JetBlue, A321ceo/neo
- 08:00: JetBlue, A321ceo/neo
- 08:05: Delta, 767-300ER
- 08:29: American, A321T
- 09:00: JetBlue, A321ceo/neo
- 10:00: JetBlue, A321ceo/neo
- 10:05: Delta, 767-300ER
- 11:00: American, A321T
- 11:00: Frontier, A320neo
- 11:00: JetBlue, A321ceo/neo
- 12:00: Delta, 767-300ER
- 12:00: JetBlue, A321ceo/neo
- 13:55: Delta, 767-300ER
- 15:15: Delta, 767-300ER
- 15:25: American, A321T
- 15:45: JetBlue, A321ceo/neo
- 16:29: American, A321T
- 17:00: Delta, 767-300ER
- 17:29: American, A321T
- 18:00: Delta, 767-300ER
- 18:40: JetBlue, A321ceo/neo
- 19:20: Delta, 767-300ER
- 19:59: American, A321T
- 19:59: JetBlue, A321ceo/neo
- 20:59: American, A321T
- 20:59: JetBlue, A321ceo/neo
- 21:30: Delta, 767-300ER
- 21:59: JetBlue, A321ceo/neo