Spirit Airlines continues to realign its network with the addition of nine new routes.
The Miramar, Florida-based airline quietly loaded a slew of new flights this weekend, as first seen on Cirium schedules and later confirmed by an airline spokesperson. (The airline has not issued a press release about these new routes.)
You’ll find the full list of Spirit’s new routes below (and on the map above), but highlights include expansions in Boston; Columbus, OH; Portland, Oregon; and Salt Lake City.
From Boston, Spirit will add flights to Columbus, Detroit and Pittsburgh. Of these, the Boston-Detroit route is the only one that is technically a resumption.
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Meanwhile, the airline will connect Portland – a major hub for Alaska Airlines – with Chicago, San Diego and Burbank, California – all routes already flown through Alaska (and some others such as American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines).
The airline will also add flights from Fort Lauderdale and San Diego to Salt Lake City, both of which will compete with Delta Air Lines (and a few others).
All but one of the new routes will be operational daily. Most start in June, but the Chicago to Portland flight starts on May 8.
For Spirit, these new routes represent the latest change the airline has made to boost profitability as many of its historically popular markets continue to suffer from overcapacity. Airports like Orlando and Las Vegas have seen unprecedented growth from a slew of domestic airlines, with some, including Spirit, now saying they will refocus their networks on other airports.
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Matt Klein, Spirit’s Chief Commercial Officer, alluded to some of these aforementioned changes in the company’s most recent earnings call.
“We also continue to make other adjustments to the network to better align our capacity with markets where supply and demand trends are more balanced. We became more aggressive in this process in the fourth quarter and we will continue to refine the network. for the remainder of the first half of the year,” Klein said.
Late last month, Spirit unveiled seven new flights, including two to Puerto Rico and four from Baltimore. The airline followed just days later by cutting thirteen flights, most of which hit markets oversaturated with capacity, including Las Vegas, Orlando and Miami.
Looking ahead, Spirit said this month that it will move to adding more flight connections as a way to increase revenue. Klein also said at the Routes Americas conference this month that it would continue to restrict flying in Florida.
“Some of it is operationally driven, and some of it is also commercially driven, where we think there are better opportunities to match supply and demand,” Klein said.
Spirit’s 9 new routes
Route | Frequency | Starting date |
---|---|---|
O’Hare International Airport (ORD) – Portland International Airport (PDX) | Six times a week | May 8th |
Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) – PDX | Daily | 5 June |
San Diego International Airport (SAN) – PDX | Daily | 5 June |
Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) – John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH) | Daily | 5 June |
Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) – CMH | Daily | 5 June |
BOS – Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) | Daily | 5 June |
BOS – Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) | Daily | 5 June |
SAN – Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) | Daily | June 20 |
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) – SLC | Daily | June 20 |
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