Published:
Spirit Airlines Attacks Record Fuel Prices
MIRAMAR, Fla., July 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Spirit Airlines attacks record high
fuel prices by revising 2008 growth, cutting 15% of non-fuel costs, continuing
to increase non-ticket revenue and continuing to expand to theCaribbean and
Latin America.
Spirit is targeting a 15% reduction in non-fuel expenses ensuring Spirit's
costs remain the lowest in the Americas. Spirit is carefully evaluating every
expense and is working with all stakeholders to ensure necessary objectives
are met.
Spirit remains focused on growing revenue through non-ticket revenue
products and services that add value rather than substantially raising fares,
which stalls customer demand.
Spirit enteredColombia in May with the addition of Cartagena. Flights to
Trinidad began in June.Bogota will begin July 24, 2008. Additionally, Spirit
today filed an application with the US DOT to serve Manaus,Brazil. Other
growth opportunities are being evaluated in the broaderCaribbean andLatin
America region for 2009.
Spirit has revised its 2008 growth plan, which originally called for 10
percent growth year-over-year, and now expects flat capacity year-over-year.
"We can't sit back and hope for fuel prices to fall; we will attack this
challenge by adapting our business to the structural change in fuel prices,"
said Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza. "We are in a better position than any other
carrier in the Americas to succeed in this environment. By becoming more
aggressive than ever on non-fuel costs, raising non-ticket revenues and
continuing to grow ourLatin America network while trimming lower performing
flights, we will win."
Spirit is making the following adjustments to its schedule as part of its
revised 2008 growth plan:
-- Effective August 1, 2008, service to Long Island MacArthur and
Providenciales,Turks & Caicos Islands will be suspended. Spirit will return
to MacArthur when market conditions change. In Providenciales, excessive local
costs have made air service not economically viable.
-- Effective September 2, 2008, service toGrand Cayman,Cayman Islands
andPunta Cana, Dominican Republic, will be operated on a seasonal basis to
better match capacity with demand.
-- Additional adjustments will be made to select markets during off-peak
periods.
-- Spirit will retire five Airbus A319 aircraft by September.
-- Spirit will make reductions in employees to coincide with these
capacity adjustments.
-- Spirit expects to maintain its low cost carrier leadership position in
Fort Lauderdale, theCaribbean,Latin America,Michigan,New Jersey and other
key markets.
-- These refinements result in limited changes to Spirit's overall scope
of service with no impact to over 300 markets served non-stop and through the
Fort Lauderdale gateway. Low fares in these markets are always available at
www.spiritair.com.
About Spirit Airlines
Spirit Airlines, Inc. (www.spiritair.com) is the largest Ultra Low Cost
Carrier (ULCC) inthe United States,Latin America andCaribbean. Its all-
Airbus fleet, the youngest in the Americas, flies more than 200 daily flights
to 43 destinations. The company is based inMiramar, Florida, and employs
2,300 professionals.
SOURCE Spirit Airlines
Copyright © 2008, PRNewswire
Copyright © 2008, NewsBlaze,
Daily News
Tags: Aviation and Airlines, Oil, Gas and Energy, , Banking and Finance, florida
_ _Is your favorite bookmark site missing?
Ask for it.