Spirit Airlines

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Spirit Airlines

IATA NK	ICAO NKS	Callsign Spirit Wings
Founded		1992
Hubs		Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
Focus cities		Atlantic City International Airport
Frequent flyer program		FREE SPIRIT
Fleet size		36
Destinations		34
Parent company		Spirit Airlines, Inc.
Headquarters		Miramar, Florida
Key people		William A. Franke, Chairman B. Ben Baldanza, President/CEO Barry Biffle, Sr. Vice President/CMO Scott Allard, Sr. Vice President/CIO
Website: http://www.spiritair.com

Spirit Airlines is a United States low-cost airline operating nationwide scheduled and charter flights. The airline is headquartered in Miramar, Florida. About of a quarter of the airline's flights are to destinations in the Caribbean, Bahamas, and Latin America.

1 History
2 Destinations
- 2.1 New routes
3 Fleet
- 3.1 Current fleet
- 3.2 Retired fleet
4 FREE SPIRIT
5 External links
6 References

[edit] History

Spirit Airlines began in 1980 as Charter One, a Detroit-based charter tour operator providing travel packages to entertainment destinations such as Atlantic City, Las Vegas and the Bahamas. In 1990, Charter One began scheduled service from Boston and Providence, R.I. to Atlantic City. On May 29, 1992 Charter One brought jet equipment into the fleet, changed its name to Spirit Airlines and inaugurated service from Detroit to Atlantic City.

In April 1993, Spirit Airlines began scheduled service to destinations in Florida. During the next five years, Spirit expanded rapidly, increasing service from Detroit and adding service in new markets such as Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Los Angeles and New York.

Spirit relocated its headquarters in December 1999, moving from Eastpointe, Michigan to Miramar, Florida. Expansion continued with the addition of the Chicago market as well as coast-to-coast service to Los Angeles. In November 2001, Spirit inaugurated service to San Juan, Puerto Rico and implemented a fully integrated Spanish-language customer service plan including a website and dedicated reservation line. In 2002, Spirit started new service to Denver, Colo. and Las Vegas, Nevada and expanded service to many of its existing markets. In the Fall of 2003, Spirit resumed flights to Washington, D.C’s Reagan National Airport, which had been suspended after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and began service to Cancún, Mexico.

In September 2002, Spirit introduced Spirit Plus, an upgraded coach class featuring 36-inch seat pitch, dedicated check-in counters, priority boarding, and complimentary cocktails & snacks.

In 2004 Spirit discontinued service to Denver, Colorado, citing high operating costs. As part of a recently announced expansion plan that includes the Caribbean and Central and South America, the airline added Santo Domingo and Providence to its network. In 2005, Spirit Airlines launched its biggest expansion effort yet, adding numerous destinations in the Caribbean and Bahamas. By February 2006, Spirit's portfolio of holiday destinations in the regions totaled ten. Spirit also began service to Grand Cayman, San Francisco, and Boston in 2006, and in 2007 filed DOT applications to offer service to Costa Rica, Haiti, the Netherlands Antilles, and Venezuela.

In 2006 Spirit launched a frequent flyer program called FREE SPIRIT. It offers award travel starting at 15,000 miles, lower than most other frequent flyer programs. The FREE SPIRIT program also guarantees award availability on every flight.

In 2006 Spirit announced it will exercise options and order 30 more Airbus A319-100 aircrafts for further expansion. [1] The aircrafts will have a scheduled delivery of 2009 to 2013.

In March 2007, the Reservation Center in Miramar, FL closed. The fate of the Reservation Center in Clinton Township, MI is still unknown.

On March 6, 2007, Spirit announced their intention to become the first Ultra- Low Cost carrier in the United States, beginning in early June 2007. Their intial plan is to begin charging $10 Per checked bag for the first two bags ($5 if bags are pre-reserved online prior to your flight with them), in addition to charging $1 for drinks which are currently complimentary. Starting June 20, Spirit Plus, which will be rebranded as BIG FRONT SEAT will no longer provide business class service. For an additional fee, a person can choose BIG FRONT SEAT, or upgrade at the airport. The airline plans to model its business plan and operating style to that of Ultra Low-Cost Carriers Ryanair and Air Asia. ^[1]

[edit] Destinations

To see the complete destination list of Spirit Airlines, see Spirit Airlines destinations.

Spirit Airlines currently flies to 30 destinations throughout the Caribbean and the United States. Upcoming schedule changes include the addition of San José, Costa Rica on April 5, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico on April 12, St. Maarten on April 20, and Caracas, Venezuela, which is currently awaiting approval by the Venezuelan government prior to announcing a firm start date, though a provisional date has been set for May 7; these additions will bring Spirit's destination count to 34.

[edit] New routes

Nonstop service operating three times per week between Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL) and San José, Costa Rica (SJO) starts April 5, 2007.
Nonstop service operating nine times per week between Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL) and Aguadilla, Puerto Rico (BQN) starts April 12, 2007.
Nonstop service operating three times per week between Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL) and St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles (SXM) starts April 20, 2007.
Daily nonstop service between Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL) and Port-au-Prince, Haiti (PAP) starts May 1, 2007.
Daily nonstop service between Atlantic City, NJ (ACY) and Las Vegas, NV (LAS) starts May 3, 2007.
Nonstop service operating four times per week between Atlantic City, NJ (ACY) and San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) starts May 3, 2007.
Nonstop service operating four times per week between Tampa, FL (TPA) and San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) starts May 4, 2007.
Nonstop service between Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL) and Caracas, Venezuela (CCS) starts May 7, 2007.
- Note: Caracas, Venezuela service is still pending government approval.
Daily nonstop service between Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL) and San José, Costa Rica (SJO) starts May 23, 2007.

[edit] Fleet

[edit] Current fleet

The Spirit Airlines all-Airbus fleet consists of the following 35 aircraft as of April 2007:

**Spirit Airlines Fleet**
Aircraft	Total	Passengers BIG FRONT SEAT™ (Ex.Spirit Plus) / Deluxe leather seating (Economy)	Routes
Airbus A319-100	30 (35 on order)	144 (8/136)	Short-medium haul
Airbus A321-200	6 (7 on order)	198 (16/182)	Short-medium haul

As of April 2007, Spirit's average fleet age was 1.2 years old^{[citation needed]}. Spirit prides itself on having "the youngest fleet in the Americas"^[2].

[edit] Retired fleet

By retiring all non-Airbus aircraft, Spirit Airlines now has one of the youngest fleets of any airline. The following planes no longer operate in the Spirit Airlines fleet:

**Spirit Airlines Retired Fleet**
Aircraft	Total	Year Retired	Replacement
McDonnell Douglas MD-81	1	2006	Airbus A320 Family
McDonnell Douglas MD-82	8	2006	Airbus A320 Family
McDonnell Douglas MD-83	5	2006	Airbus A320 Family

[edit] FREE SPIRIT

In 2006, Spirit launched a frequent flyer program called "FREE SPIRIT". The five "status levels" for members are Somebody, Elite, VIP, A-List, and Celebrity, offering progressively increasing benefits. As with several other frequent flyer programs, one's level of membership increases as one accumulates additional frequent flyer miles. Spirit Airlines' loyalty program has followed in the tradition of other frequent flyer programs by linking itself with an affinity credit card. [2]