Airways Magazine

MIAMI — Fort Lauderdale-based Ultra Low Cost Carrier, Spirit Airlines, has launched a massive winter expansion out of the sunshine state today, with 20 new seasonal routes.

According to the airline, 19 of these services launched today and will be operational until May 2 next year. The last new route will launch on December 21.

These routes bring the total daily Florida services from 116 to 178 routes, which also includes the addition of Jacksonville, which is the airline’s sixth destination in the Sunshine State.

Commenting on these new route launches was Mark Kopczak, Spirit’s VP of Network Planning, who emphasised about the connectivity on offer to its Floridian customers.

“These Florida routes provide additional seasonal service to some of our top leisure destinations just in time for the holidays,” he said. “Whether it’s escaping the winter temperatures or visiting family and friends, we provide our Guests the best service and lowest fares for Florida travel.”

Jacksonville services will launch to Michigan and Chicago from December 20 this year.

As for the 20 new services in question, Spirit’s updated schedule is shown below:

This is quite a significant expansion for Spirit out of its home state. The past few months have seen quite an expansive strategy, especially with the airline’s Orlando crew base being inaugurated.

The carrier opened a brand new crew base for pilots and flight attendants at Orlando International Airport (MCO), creating 150 new jobs in Florida.

In Orlando alone, Spirit has served more than 22 million guests in its 25 years flying to that destination.

Moreover, the fact that the frequencies of these new routes are as low as four times weekly and as high as twice daily shows that there is a significant level of demand for the airline to exploit, even at launch day.

It will be interesting to see what the load factors and passenger numbers will be like and whether we can see an upgrade on any of the weekly/once daily flights. 

157