Spirit to add 10 destinations out of Fort Lauderdale. Spirit Airlines will announce today that it plans to add 10 destinations during the next year in what is being billed as its single biggest expansion.
The new routes will be from South Florida and most, if not all, will go to international destinations in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Spirit currently flies to 35 cities domestically and overseas. If the Miramar-based company follows through on the plans, it will fly from Fort Lauderdale to about 30 international destinations.
DeltaDAWG From United States of America, joined May 2006, 621 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 23 hours ago) and read 7692 times:
Ambitious! Seems they are turning into the modern day Low Cost Eastern! Except for the domestic routes.
MAH4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31155 posts, RR: 76 Reply 3, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 7603 times:
Quoting Humberside (Reply 2): I take it most of the traffic on all these new FLL international routes are O&D, since they havent been increasing their domestic feed into FLL?
When Spirit first started, they had a clear bank model, but, yes, they later elimated the pure bank schedule. While they certainly do get connections, they have been trying the best to focus these services on O&D. They still do get a good amount of connections from DC, Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa, and NYC, though.
One of the new routes is Saturday-only service to Aruba.
DTWAGENT From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 1283 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 7565 times:
I wish they would stop building up FLL. That airport can't handle much more from them. They have space and gates here in DTW (where they started). They should give NWA a good run for the money if they did some of these flights from DTW.. I know they would need to have bigger aircraft. Maybe more A321's or A319's.
In the last 2 years they seem to have forgot about DTW. And something is up. NK just layed off 150 res. agents out of their Eastpoint location. Are they planning on pulling out of DTW all together???
Vivavegas From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 505 posts, RR: 2 Reply 5, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 7541 times:
Mikey711MN From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 1380 posts, RR: 8 Reply 6, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 7510 times:
Quoting DTWAGENT (Reply 4): I wish they would stop building up FLL. That airport can't handle much more from them.
Based on my own personal experiences flying out of the Spirit concourse (E?) at FLL (albeit I was on a JM flight), I noted that gate utilization was surprisingly slow for the few hours I was holed up there. If they concentrate on efficient, timely turnarounds, I don't see a problem with this.
MAH4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31155 posts, RR: 76 Reply 7, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 7494 times:
Quoting Mikey711MN (Reply 6): Based on my own personal experiences flyingrnout of the Spirit concourse (E?) at FLL (albeit I was on a JMrnflight), I noted that gate utilization was surprisingly slow for thernfew hours I was holed up there. If they concentrate on efficient,rntimely turnarounds, I don't see a problem with this.
The problem is check-in space. This problem is being remedied by FLL and Spirit, as the area is going to be expanded. One major nuisancernis the bomb-dececting machines are located in the check-in area, andrnFLL officials are working on moving them out ASAP, which will create arngood amount of check-in space for NK.
MaverickM11 From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 15813 posts, RR: 50 Reply 9, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 21 hours ago) and read 7334 times:
That's bizarre that they make the process so public.
Kohflot From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 13, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 7133 times:
This line's a little odd to me..
"The carrier will select up to 10 new routes from South Florida and will add up to three new international gateway cities."
From the title of the press release, it sounds like they're adding 10 new destinations from FLL, but this says 10 new "routes" and up to 3 new international cities. That kinda makes it sound like they're going to make sure all the current dots are connected to FLL.. so it seems reasonable that BOS-FLL will be on the list, and maybe SFO-FLL. It also, at first glance, sounds like 7 of the new cities will be domestic. If BOS and SFO are on that list, that leaves up to 5. HOU and MSY make sense.. how bout DFW, PHX, and DEN?
Internationally, has Spirit ever served BDA? LIR is growing and might make sense.. and, looking the other direction, what of the prospect of YYZ, YUL, or YHZ?
RL757PVD From United States of America, joined Dec 1999, 4537 posts, RR: 13 Reply 14, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 7096 times:
Heh...while we're mentioning cities they dropped and would return to...(minus PHX) throw PVD in that mix! Significant local dominican and latin amaiercan population demographics there. Heck i bet they could support n/s flights to SDQ in the summer
Experience is what you get when what you thought would work out didn't!
Zvocio79 From United States of America, joined Nov 2006, 172 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 7084 times:
there is massive latin people in Florida, lots of market.......perhaps Bogota could be one of the new destinations..........I hope they make it as far as Santiago (SCL) so I can go to Chile more frequently, LAN is too expensive so. good competition.
FLYGUY767 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 16, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 7052 times:
Quoting Kohflot (Reply 13): Internationally, has Spirit ever served BDA? LIR is growing and might make sense.. and, looking the other direction, what of the prospect of YYZ, YUL, or YHZ?
I would not look to Toronto as costs are way to high, and Halifax is iffy at best. Montreal may be a wild card.
In reference to International growth I would go for:
Mexico City
Bridgetown
Quito
In reference to the United States domestic growth I would go for:
Boston
Dallas. DFW
Denver
Houston. HOU
Minneapolis
New Orleans
Philadelphia
Phoenix
St. Louis
San Francisco
MAH4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31155 posts, RR: 76 Reply 17, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 7004 times:
Quoting Kohflot (Reply 13): From the title of the press release, it sounds like they're adding 10 new destinations from FLL, but this says 10 new "routes" and up to 3 new international cities. That kinda makes it sound like they're going to make sure all the current dots are connected to FLL..
What they mean by international gateways is domestic cities (possibly current destinations) that might see international service in addition to their flights to Fort Lauderdale. The majority, if not all, of these ten new destinations will be outside of the United States.
Tampa and Orlando are probably already writing up their proposals for why Spirit should add them as international gateways, but I personally don't think Spirit will add any new international gateways in the sense of multiple destinations, despite the solicitation. They are really just playing a game of "how low can you go" to see how desperate some communities are to get a flight to Nassau. I could see them adding more flights from Nassau and Cancun to the mainland, but not anything outside of that.
Also, look for the unexpected. They already fly to two markets that AA ignores - Aguadilla and Grand Turk. They will soon be adding two more markets with no service by American Airlines - Chiclayo and Ponce. They also applied for service to Barranquilla, which was also without AA (but then, after Spirit applied, AA announced service to Barranquilla).
Look for Georgetown, Guyana. Ft. Lauderdale (not Miami) has one of the world's largest Guyanesse populations. Spirit won't ignore this market. Also look for Roatan, a big scuba destination, which AA has repeatedly ignored and is only served from South Florida with one flight a week on TACA. Keep an eye out for service to Iquitos, Peru as well.
There is also the obvious: Aruba starts in November; Panama City will launch in 2008; another Mexican city is likely; San Salvador will launch; Liberia is a given; Port of Spain will be launching very soon (they still need T&T government approval).
Within the US and domesticlly I would expect minimal growth. I think they will connect the two last dots in their domestic network in due time: FLL-BOS (which was to start in November but is on hold) and FLL-SFO.
To Canada, I would put my money on Quebec City before anything else. Fort Lauderdale is Quebec City's largest transborder market between November and April. I bet you NK won't ignore it forever. Daily FLL-YQB A319 service during the winter, and weekend service during the summer (which could cater to South Floridians vacationing in Quebec).
NK likes to think very outside the box when it comes to destinations.
United787 From United States of America, joined May 2005, 2352 posts, RR: 1 Reply 20, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 6874 times:
I always thought FLL would make a great southern gateway for UA but many people on this website would say, "FLL isn't MIA, there isn't nearly as much O&D traffic to Latin America from FLL". I think Spirit is proving that there is and they will be giving MIA and AA a run for its money; hopefully AA will be running for the swamps...
I think UA should forget about merging with CO and DL. I think they should buy out Spirit! Why?
FLL (Southern Gateway Hub)
Fleet Commonality - A320 family (I don't about their engines and I know UA doesn't have A321s)
MAH4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31155 posts, RR: 76 Reply 21, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 6855 times:
Quoting United787 (Reply 20): I always thought FLL would make a great southern gateway for UA but many people on this website would say, "FLL isn't MIA, there isn't nearly as much O&D traffic to Latin America from FLL". I think Spirit is proving that there is and they will be giving MIA and AA a run for its money; hopefully AA will be running for the swamps...
Spirit isn't prooving people wrong, nor do they have AA running for the swamps (haha). Spirit is serving a niche here. The market for a daily flight to Lima is there. The market for three or four? No. The market for flights to heavy VFR destinations is there. You know what isn't there? The business traffic. But for Spirit, that doesn't matter. For AA, UA, etc., it does.
And the day they fly to Brazl, Argentina, etc. is when pigs fly.
OB1504 From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 2975 posts, RR: 8 Reply 22, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 6765 times:
Quoting DTWAGENT (Reply 4): I wish they would stop building up FLL. That airport can't handle much more from them. They have space and gates here in DTW (where they started). They should give NWA a good run for the money if they did some of these flights from DTW.. I know they would need to have bigger aircraft. Maybe more A321's or A319's.
An A319 can't fly DTW-LIM.
Quoting Zvocio79 (Reply 15): I hope they make it as far as Santiago (SCL) so I can go to Chile more frequently, LAN is too expensive so. good competition.
LIM is about the furthest south you can go from FLL with an A319. Not to mention the huge difference in service between an American ULCC and a Chilean full-service carrier.
Kohflot From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 23, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 6692 times:
Quoting MAH4546 (Reply 21): And the day they fly to Brazl, Argentina, etc. is when pigs fly.
So there'd be no room in the business plan for 8-10 A330s in a single-class configuration offering ULCC fares and service to deep South America and from South Florida to a couple points in Europe?
Humberside From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2005, 4903 posts, RR: 5 Reply 24, posted (5 years 10 months 4 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 6591 times:
Quoting Kohflot (Reply 13): Internationally, has Spirit ever served BDA?
Yes, from LGA. Think it was axed around the time Jet Blue started JFK-BDA
Visit the Air Humberside Website and Forum
25 2travel2know: Guatemalans would love to fly PVD-GUA. If NK is a LCC, why don't they try flying to YHM instead of YYZ? I would guess NK will fly GEO and PBM before
26 Yellowtail: The Airport Authorities here (BZE) have been dropping all kinds of hints that they are talkign to NK here....it is no secret that S. Fla - BZE routes
27 MAH4546: Route never started. It was never even made bookable. Probably, but if AA ever goes to GEO or PBM, it would be from MIA, never SJU. Two weekly unused
28 RL757PVD: Another route that the region could almost support a daily flight (thanks to TACA beaving BOS) My oppinion is NK just wanted to dump a stations worth
29 NA747: Let's not forget the growing population of nearby Palm Beach County already at approx. 1.2 million people. Many Latinos living there, too. FLL benefit
30 Zvocio79: They do fly the A321 with a 3000 miles range, stop in LIM continue to SCL like LAN used to do it.........come on man, give me some hope.
31 NA747: True, Zvocio79, they haven't said that all the new destinations *must* be on nonstop flights...right?
32 Boeing743: I am wonder how can Spirit expand more routes out of FLL since that FLL are already little crowded and wonder if they has room to do FIS if all of int
33 AA1818: I reckon they will re-announce POS since they were waiting on Gov't Approval!! AA1818
34 MAH4546: They haven't announced POS yet, they simply applied for government approval. They have US approval, they don't have T&T approval. Port of Spain isn't
35 OB1504: The A321 can't make FLL-LIM, only the A319 can. I doubt they'll start SCL service until they're pretty much dominating everything to the north. Also,
36 Njdevilsin03: I remember usair had rights to fly to Bermuda...Is that route still allowed from FLL and if so can NK act and apply for that route?
37 MAH4546: Yes, Spirit can apply, and fly, FLL-BDA. US Airways did very poorly on the route, though. American Airlines has done extremely well on MIA-BDA, howev
38 2travel2know: Well, In the past any suggestion for PBI-Latinamerican flights have been received with suspicion if not anger by fellow a.neters. IMHO, there could b
39 MCOflyer: If AC can fly their 319 YYZ-San Jose, then yes its possible. Never rule out anything with a LCC like NK. My vote: San Jose, CR LIM SAN If they serve
40 RICARIZA: They will start Cartagena-Colombia in a few months and Barranquilla (both open skies cities) while they keep pushing for other routes to Colombia incl
41 MAH4546: They already fly to Lima and San Jose. There is no market between MTY and MCO, as AeroMexico easily found out. That's good to hear, though I thought
42 OB1504: YYZ-SJO is 2,030 nm, while DTW-LIM is 3,261 nm. By comparison, FLL-LIM is 2,283 nm.
43 RICARIZA: Yes, it is still pending, I should have been more clear on my statement. The decision should come very soon though, apparently next week.
44 YOW: In that case what about Ottawa? Surely there's more demand than the current winter-seaonal 4x weekly from YOW. Also, you have to think eventually som
45 MAH4546: YUL-MIA/FLL is extremely well served. This summer there will be 10 weeklies on WestJet, three dailies on American, and five daily flights on Air Cana
47 Summa767: Hi Ricardo, I think you were right in that BAQ is already "open skies". Aerocivil's resolution 3299 is dated 16th July. It is an unilateral decision,
48 MAH4546: To FLL, Air Transat has scheuduled service to Montreal, Quebec City, and Toronto; Skyservice service is usually charter, but has been scheduled in th
49 BWIA330: Spirit defiantely needs to do BUF as this is a really good market, especially for people out of YYZ that are looking for great fares. When will we kno
50 RICARIZA: Thanks for the update. I thought i was still to be announced. Well, great for BAQ a close to my heart city and the city that gave birth to aviation i
51 YOW: The MIA flights are merely to connect people to the cruise ships. YOW didn't even have them last year and I'll be surprised if they return for winter
52 WesternA318: I'd personally LOVE to see this happen...
53 MAH4546: And the first airport foaming at the mouth for a flight to Fort Lauderdale is... Niagara Falls http://www.niagara-gazette.com/local/gnnlocalnews_story
54 Jetpixx: I read the article - but I am a little blurry still. Is this for flights into YSN? ...or is there another airport in the region that I am missing? Th
55 NA747: The Buffalo areas has 2 airports: the better known BUF and about 15 miles north is IAG which lies 4 miles east of Niagara Falls, NY. IAG has 2 runway
56 Nkops: I don't see us going there... we really aren't a secondary airport carrier... we seem to hit the major airports (ORD,LGA,DTW,BOS).. if we went up the
58 PSU.DTW.SCE: The market for nonstop DTW - Carribean / Central / South America would be very difficult to fly with any sort of regularly scheduled service. NW flie
59 Humberside: Currently Myrtle Beach Direct have scheduled charter service to Myrtle Beach
60 MAH4546: Denver was pulled because of performance issues more than anything else. They only had MD80s back then and, honestly, the MD80 was a terrible aircraf
61 PVD757: Having read through the RFP, it is clearly more aimed at non-domestic markets. I'm sure there will be several airports in the U.S. that will submit on
62 MAH4546: They will literally get an application from just about every decent sized airport on the Eastern seaboard. No doubt in my mind the following airports
63 PSU.DTW.SCE: For an additional laugh, Youngstown, OH - YNG is attempting to lure NK.
64 MSYtristar: Well I made sure the director of Marketing at MSY knew about NK's little proposal. She told me that she'll be passing the info along to the right chan
65 MAH4546: No surprise. They've been trying to lure Spirit for more than a year now.
66 MSYtristar: I think Pan Am 4 (or whatever it is now) flew there for what....a month or two? Or maybe they annouced servcie there but never started it.
67 MAH4546: They have Allegiant service right now, but I've heard it does poorly.
68 ConcordeBoy: Agreed. Mark or anyone else, know of NK looking closely at MSY (now or in the past)?
69 MAH4546: Nope, but my money is on MSY sending in an application trying for not only FLL service, but SAP service too.
70 MSYtristar: I never thought of that...it would make sense I guess...ever since TA bailed, all MSY has now to SAP are seasonal charters (via Miami Air). Obviously
71 ConcordeBoy: ...heck, why not throw CUN into that one as well?
72 MAH4546: At one point Spirit had big plans for CUN. They applied for ORD/DFW/TPA/MCO-CUN. They didn't get O'Hare, while they pulled their MCO and DFW applicat
74 FATFlyer: Allegiant sees annual load factors out of YNG in the 80 to 85% range. I think the real question is could the YNG market absorb more seats geared for
75 PSU.DTW.SCE: Because of their business model, and ultra-low fare leisure vacation package affiliation, G4 generally needs at least an 85%-90% load factor to break
76 FATFlyer: I think you are a little high there. Their system-wide scheduled service load factor in the 2nd quarter was 85%. In Q1 2007 they had a system-wide sc
77 LACA773: How's NK doing on their LAX-FLL/DTW flights? Just as important how is their redeye doing to GUA? There are quite a few flights leaving around the same
79 MD90fan: I can see some sort of Tampa-Nassau service with a 4x weekly A319 service similar to Orlando-Nassau, it might be a struggle initially, but I'm confid
80 LACA773: Thanks for the information. It's greatly apreciated. Does anyone know how they are doing on their GUA flights? LACA773
81 MAH4546: Spirit doesn't fly MCO-NAS. They offered a temporary service this past spring, because they had a contract with Atlantis. When Atlantis opened their
82 N587NK: As for the GUA flights, I've done that several times and its always been fairly full. so less than 120 pax out 144 seats on any of the flights I've do
83 N587NK: As for the GUA flights, I've done that several times and its always been fairly full. No less than 120 pax out 144 seats on any of the flights I've do
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