Fort Lauderdale’s Spirit in the sky*

Spirit’s recent risky M.I.L.F. campaign and a “M.I.L.F.” (anna.aero has many young readers so you’ll have to look it up on a popular search engine). Spirit grew 40% in 2007 with its special emphasis on Caribbean islands and Latin American services.

Describing itself as an ultra-low-cost-carrier (ULCC), Florida-based Spirit Airlines operates an all-Airbus fleet of 33 144-seat A319s and two 198-seat A321s across a network of over 40 destinations, with special emphasis on Latin America and the Caribbean.

Last year the airline’s passenger numbers grew 40% from just under five million in 2006 to just under seven million, while maintaining load factors of around 80%. The airline’s biggest base of operation is Fort Lauderdale from where it currently operates to 39 destinations.

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Detroit, the airline’s original home is the second biggest base, but with just nine routes compared to Fort Lauderdale’s 39. Of those 39 routes just 14 are to domestic destinations (but they account for 56% of seat capacity), while 25 are international routes to 18 different territories.

The most recent route to start was a daily service to Bogota which began carrying passengers on 24 July. The airline has recently sought US permission to serve Manaus in Brazil and is actively seeking further rights to add frequencies on its Colombian routes.

The carrier also recently announced plans to return five of its A319s and has ended double-daily services to Long Island Macarthur airport near New York which it only began serving on 1 May. However, it was competing head-to-head with Southwest. Weekly flights from Fort Lauderdale to Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos islands have also been axed.

Spirit Airlines launched Fort Lauderdale – Long Island MacArthur services on 1 May. However, it subsequently suspended the double-daily services on 1 August. According to the airline, it “will return to MacArthur when market conditions change”.

Bigger than Southwest and JetBlue at Fort Lauderdale

Based on current schedule data, Spirit is the largest airline at Fort Lauderdale airport.

Spirit operates twice as many routes at the airport as any other airline. Competition is fierce as other airlines compete head-to-head with Spirit on most of its busiest routes. On New York LaGuardia there is competition from Delta and JetBlue, Southwest competes on Orlando services, while AirTran and Delta compete on Atlanta flights. Northwest provides competition to Detroit, Continental and Southwest are rivals to Tampa, while US Airways competes on Washington Reagan. American competes on the San Juan route meaning that Spirit is competing against nearly all of the main US carriers at the airport.

Given the airline’s modest track record at reporting profits the current climate would appear to be a threat to the airline, but according to the airline’s CEO if fuel prices stay below $120 then the airline will make money in 2008 even if passenger numbers remain virtually unchanged from 2007.

* “Spirit in the sky” was a global hit for Norman Greenbaum in 1970. It topped the UK charts and reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100.