Spirit suspends some routes, retires five aircraft
© Spirit Airlines“We can't sit back and hope for fuel prices to fall,” says Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza. To that end the discount airline is looking to slash 15 percent of non-fuel costs. Among other things, that means service cuts:
- On August 1 Spirit will suspend nonstop service from Long Island MacArthur Airport (ISP) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL), saying it “will return…when market conditions change”. On the same day, say so long to Spirit sojourns to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos (PLS).
How to cope: Discount airline Southwest continues to fly nonstop frequently from Long Island to Fort Lauderdale. From Miami (MIA), American Airlines offers frequent nonstops to Providenciales.
- On September 2, Spirit's nonstop service from Fort Lauderdale to Grand Cayman (GCM) and Punta Cana (PUJ) will become seasonal.
How to cope: Again, American Airlines flies nonstop from Miami (MIA) to both locations. Cayman Airways also flies nonstop MIA-GCM.
Spirit's pre-fuel frenzy plans had called for 10 percent capacity growth in 2008. Now those projections are flat, but that doesn't mean the discount airline won't forge new routes. July 24 is the intended launch date for nonstop service to Bogota (BOG), and the carrier has just applied with the Department of Transportation (DOT) for permission to fly to Manaus, Brazil (MAO).
Despite that, Spirit says it’s retiring five of its twinjet Airbus A319s. This will happen by September.
Baldanza asserts Spirit is “in a better position than any other carrier in the Americas to succeed in this environment”. His rationale? The discount airline will aggressively cut non-fuel costs, raise non-ticket revenue, trim lower-performing flights, and grow its low-fare Latin American network.
© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler