Frontier Airlines Chairman and CEO Barry Biffle before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights in Washington, DC, U.S., Tuesday, September 30, 2025.
Kent Nishimura | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Frontier Group Titlesthe parent company of budget airline Frontier, has replaced its CEO of nearly a decade, Barry Biffle, with the carrier’s president, the company announced Monday.
James Dempsey takes over as interim CEO immediately.
“Jimmy has been an invaluable member of Frontier’s senior management team for more than 10 years and has been instrumental in the evolution and growth of the company over that time,” Chairman Bill Franke said in a press release. “We believe Jimmy is uniquely qualified to lead our airline into the future.”
Biffle and Frontier declined to comment.
Frontier said Biffle would remain in an “advisory” capacity until the end of the year.
Biffle had been chief executive of Frontier since March 2016 and has a career spanning more than three decades in airlines, including at Spirit, the nation’s first low-cost airline, which is currently in its second bankruptcy in less than a year.
Frontier has been in talks to merge with Spirit several times since early 2022, but none have materialized into a deal until now.
The two low-cost airlines have struggled to stem losses in the wake of the pandemic as rising labor and other costs, as well as a shift in consumer tastes toward international travel and premium products, hurt financial results.
Biffle has led some of Frontier’s initiatives in recent months to respond to customers seeking more space on board.
Frontier shares are down nearly 19% year to date, while the NYSE Arca Airline Indexwhich primarily tracks U.S. airlines, is up more than 6%.
