Frontier Airlines is trimming three regional routes from its Milwaukee hub as the airline executes changes in its network as part a broader programme to improve its financial performance.

Service from Milwaukee to Appleton, Wisconsin, Hartford, Connecticut, and Louisville, Kentucky is being cancelled effective 12 September.

Louisville also has Frontier service to the airline's Denver hub, while Appleton and Hartford have no other Frontier service.

All three routes are operated with Embraer ERJs flown by Republic subsidiary Chautauqua Airlines. Frontier told Air Transport Intelligence that three leased Embraer ERJ-135 aircraft will be returned to lessors later this year.

All three routes had previously been part of the Midwest Connect network. Republic acquired Frontier and Midwest Airlines in summer 2009, and announced last year that Frontier would be the surviving brand.

In 2008 Midwest announced that service to Hartford, Louisville, and other markets would cease as SkyWest Airlines Bombardier CRJ200s were leaving service.

Midwest service to Louisville resumed in August 2009, while Frontier service to Hartford launched in September 2010.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news