IMPERIAL, Pa. - Pittsburgh International Airport is reporting a record number of seats being offered for passengers of the so-called ultra-low-cost carriers.

Published in the airport’s, Blue Sky News, the wealth of “cheap seats” is credited in part to a new focus on locations beyond traditional vacation destinations.

The carriers are adding routes, offering more products to customers, and competitive pricing, according to the report.

Ultra-low-cost flights have traditionally been most popular among those traveling to popular tourist markets, such as Florida, the Caribbean, and Las Vegas. However, following the COVID-19 pandemic those leisure markets saw an oversupply of seating capacity as many airlines scrambled to capitalize on the strong recovery in leisure travel.

“What happened last year in Florida was the equivalent of Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, and Target all opening up on the same block,” Frontier CEO Barry Biffle told Reuters earlier this year.

“There’s just too much capacity in Florida and Las Vegas… they can’t add flights and make more money,” added Brett Snyder, founder of the industry site Cranky Flier.

Carriers were forced to look for places where fares were higher but there was still enough passenger demand to fill their aircraft because they have big airplanes with a lot of seats

Spirit Airlines is offering more than 144,000 seats on arriving and departing planes in July, the most since it began service at PIT in 2017.

Frontier Airlines is offering nearly 49,000 seats this month, the most since it re-entered the Pittsburgh market in 2016.

Along with Allegiant Air, which serves 14 destinations nonstop, and Sun Country Airlines, which resumed seasonal service to Minneapolis in May, ULCCs are offering more than 250,000 total seats, the most ever by the segment’s carriers at PIT.

In April, Frontier announced it was moving excess capacity out of leisure markets with a new focus on high-fare, underserved routes. “And so that’s where you look for these sweet spots, which are still large enough but have higher fares,” Snyder said. “You could look at any mid-continent hub or former hub as a place that might create an opportunity for them.”

In May, Frontier began nonstop flights from PIT to Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, and Raleigh-Durham, tripling its Pittsburgh network, which also includes nonstop service to Denver and seasonal flights to Orlando.

Spirit has also added several new routes at PIT this year, launching daily service to Boston, Houston-Intercontinental, and New York-LaGuardia. Spirit’s Pittsburgh network now has 12 destinations, and the airline has grown to become PIT’s fifth largest overall by total passengers.

Carriers like Frontier and Spirit are also targeting new groups of travelers looking for budget-friendly choices in larger markets.

“It’s not that traditional group that’s going to see Mickey Mouse or going to gamble away their life savings,” Snyder said. “It’s a shift from a traditional pure leisure type of market to one that has a lot more visiting-friends-and-relatives; bigger cities with more people that go back and forth. Pittsburgh is on that list of places that has received more service.”

Frontier’s Pittsburgh-Philadelphia route operates up to twice a day alongside American Airlines’ existing daily flights, giving travelers a low-cost option for travel between Pennsylvania’s two largest cities. Frontier also provides options to Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Raleigh-Durham.

Spirit operates nonstop to Boston alongside Delta and JetBlue; Houston with Southwest and United Airlines; and New York-LaGuardia alongside American and Delta.

Additionally, New York-LaGuardia is Spirit’s second daily flight between Pittsburgh and New York City; the carrier also operates daily service to Newark, which began in 2022.

 Frontier and Spirit have also changed their pricing structures, eliminated change and cancellation fees, and introduced new bundled fare classes.

Among Frontier’s new fares include its business bundle, which adds two free checked bags under 50 pounds. Business also adds Frontier’s extra legroom, seating near the front of the aircraft, and a guaranteed empty middle seat.