Frontier Airlines wants to become the first U.S. carrier to fly nonstop from Orlando to four Colombian cities at once, and airline and airport officials are set to lay out the details at a media event at Orlando International Airport on Thursday. The budget carrier has already filed the paperwork to make it happen, asking Colombian regulators to sign off on a network that would connect Central Florida directly to Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena and Cali.
On August 20, Frontier submitted a formal application with Colombia's Civil Aviation Authority, known as Aerocivil, seeking fourth-freedom traffic rights to run 28 weekly roundtrips between Orlando and the four Colombian destinations, according to Aviation Club Center. Those rights would allow Frontier to sell tickets for passengers, mail and cargo moving between the two countries. WFTV first reported that WFTV plans call for Frontier to launch its first-ever service to South America out of Orlando, with officials expected to present formal schedule and ticketing details at Thursday's event.
A Market Gap Left By Spirit's Collapse
The timing is no accident. Spirit Airlines, once the dominant low-cost operator between Florida and Colombia, ceased all flight operations and entered Chapter 11 liquidation on May 2, 2026, after a severe spike in jet fuel prices, according to reporting cited by Aviation Week. Spirit had flown nonstop from Orlando to both Bogotá and Medellín before the shutdown, while its Orlando-Cartagena route had already stopped flying back in February 2025.
That exit left a measurable hole in the market. OAG Schedules Analyser data shows airlines offered just 61,220 two-way seats between Orlando and Colombia in August 2026, a 14.8% drop from the 71,852 seats available a year earlier, per the same Aviation Week analysis. Bogotá alone still accounts for 81.8% of all Orlando-Colombia seat capacity, with Avianca supplying 30,960 seats and LATAM Airlines Group another 19,100 — and Avianca now stands as the only carrier flying nonstop between Orlando and Medellín.
Cartagena and Cali Stand To Gain the Most
If Aerocivil grants full approval, Frontier's daily flights would restore nonstop service to Cartagena and introduce brand-new nonstop access to Cali, two cities that currently have no direct flights from Orlando International Airport at all, the outlet's report notes. That would add nonstop options for Central Florida travelers heading to those destinations.
This is not Frontier's first attempt to crack the Colombian market. The airline previously sought authorization for a route linking San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Bogotá, but it never actually operated scheduled flights on that path, the report states. Choosing Orlando this time around leans into a hub Frontier has spent years building up rather than a smaller Caribbean outpost.
Why Orlando, Why Now
Orlando International Airport is Frontier's second-busiest hub nationwide, trailing only Denver, with 1,758 scheduled departures set for this September, as Hoodline previously reported on Frontier's hub rankings. The airport itself is no small operation either — it welcomed 57,675,573 total passengers in 2025, keeping its title as Florida's busiest airport and the seventh-busiest in the country, according to Orlando Weekly.
There's also a demographic case for the route. Florida is home to more than 826,000 Colombian Americans, with sizable populations in Central and South Florida, per U.S. Census Bureau figures cited by Wikipedia. That kind of visiting-friends-and-relatives travel demand gives Frontier a built-in customer base if the routes get approved.
The Colombia push fits into a broader growth pattern for the airline. Frontier expanded its overall nationwide capacity by 23% year-over-year as of August 2026 as it works to absorb low-fare market share left behind by competitor withdrawals, according to a Simple Flying analysis. It's a strategy Frontier has leaned on before.
For now, the routes remain paperwork rather than reality. Aerocivil has not indicated a timeline for approving the fourth-freedom rights across all four requested cities, and until that review wraps up, Frontier cannot sell a single ticket on the proposed Orlando-Colombia flights.
