Frontier Airlines’ new livery in 2014 – Photo: Blaine Nickeson | AirlineReporter
Looking at the market today, and lots of talk about additional airline mergers, it seems that Frontier and Spirit joining forces would make sense.
With the recent completion of the American Airlines and US Airways merger, there are officially four major U.S. airlines that control over three-quarters of the domestic air travel market. The four airlines are: Southwest, United, American, and Delta. All of them have been through mergers in the last decade. The remaining twenty-five percent of the market is divided up amongst carriers such as JetBlue, Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines, amongst a few others. There is a very small likelihood that another merger would occur amongst the major four airlines due to antitrust regulations. Therefore, any airline consolidation would most likely happen among the smaller carriers that control the remaining twenty-five percent of the market, in an effort to better compete with the four mega-carriers.
One potential merger that appears to be the most promising is a deal between Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Spirit and Denver, Colorado-based Frontier. Spirit operates around 250 daily domestic departures, while Frontier operates at somewhere around 230 departures daily. The merger would combine two companies positioning themselves fighting to be the top ultra discount airline in the United States.
I am a big fan of Spirit Airlines. They offer some of the lowest fares and push to promote their a-la-carte-style pricing. Although it seems that many customers see them as the enemy and “extorting” people out of their money, I see them as a viable, cheap option to get from point A to point B. Are they going to be like riding in business class on a Qatar A380? No… not even close. But that is not what they are about, nor should that be the expectation flying them.
Last week, I posted a letter from a reader complaining about his experience with Spirit and my hope was that people would see him as ridiculous and defend the airline. Many did, but some I saw (via the story and social media) agreed with the passenger. That surprised me.
I reached out to Paul Berry, who is Spirit’s director of communications, advertising, and brand to see what he thought. Although I was just looking for a few lines, I was very impressed with how seriously he took this complaint; he gave a very thorough reply. Below, you can see how he breaks down each topic and gives a detailed description on how Spirit operates.
The Bare Fare model – Photo: Spirit Airlines
A few times per week, I get emails from upset passengers. The vast majority of these emails come across as entitled people who’ve had a bad experience, but think the world owes them — big. Many times I am cc’d with dozens of other media outlets, in hopes that one of us will create a story: “BREAKING NEWS: Passenger’s Flight Delayed 30 Minutes Due to Weather.” As-if. Sadly, I do get emails like that.
Rarely I will get an email describing a true bad experience, where the airline messed up. In those cases I will take the time to either explain things to them or point them in a good direction to get assistance. Heck, I was getting so many poorly written emails that I even posted a story on how to write a good airline complaint letter.
Often, the emails are just plain entertaining and I want to share. Not only to give an insight of what airlines get on a daily basis, but also to really give these people what they want — publicity of their “horrid” treatment. Maybe even a reality check.
Every time I think about posting one of these emails, I chicken out. Yes, I am calling them out and making fun of them, and that is not very nice is it? Well… I am going to give this a try… and really, with this example, they clearly want to, “inform the masses about [Spirit’s] despicable treatment of its paying customers.” Alright Angry Passenger X (that’s obviously not their real name)… let me give you what you think you want. After, be sure to check out Spirit’s reply.
Line up of planes at FLL – Photo: Maarten Visser | Flickr CC
Although Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL) is a mere 21 miles north of its huge cousin, Miami International Airport (MIA), it’s worlds apart in its focus and business model. FLL is a hub for low-cost carriers (LCCs) and ultra-low-cost carriers (ULCCs), and funnels passengers to nearby Port Everglades, one of the busiest cruise ship terminals in the world. In 2014, FLL saw almost 25 million passengers use its facilities, led by ULCCs and LCCs Allegiant, JetBlue, Southwest, Virgin America, and Spirit, which is based at FLL.
Trans-Atlantic LCC, Norwegian Air Shuttle, also serves FLL with Boeing 787s. A number of U.S., Canadian, and Latin American airlines also provide non-stop scheduled service to FLL, along with seasonal charter carriers.
’œWe complement MIA,’ says Allan Siegel, FLL’s Community Outreach Coordinator. ’œBut our landing fees are lower, so our airlines are saving significant costs. That makes us attractive to the LCCs, and in 2014, LCCs handled 62% of our total traffic.’ The airport’s traffic has grown steadily, up 25% in 10 years, but that growth led to capacity issues, driven by FLL’s configuration.
There is no missing Spirit’s new bold yellow livery – Photo: Spirit Airlines
It seems that every airline in the US is in the process in getting a new livery. We had Southwest and Frontier last week and this week we have probably the most bold of a change with Spirit Airlines. Not to mention the horrid look of the new China Eastern livery spotted at Paine Field.
If you thought the new Southwest livery was bold and radical, it has nothing on this taxi-like black and yellow design of the new Spirit look. You should have no problem spotting these Airbus aircraft from a distance.
Notice the “Bare Fare” on the engine nacel – Photo: Spirit Airlines
The first aircraft, in new livery, started services today from Atlantic City (ACY) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL). The airline plans to introduce six more aircraft in the new livery over the next few months. Any new planes delivered will sport the yellow livery, but the rest of the fleet will be updated during their regularly scheduled painting timeframe.
’œThis new livery perfectly matches Spirit Airlines,’ said Ben Baldanza, Spirit’s President and CEO. ’œIt’s radically different from other airlines, and it’s fun, just like we are. When you see this plane in the air ’“ or on the ground – there will be no question that this is a Spirit plane.’
The airline is really hoping to market their rock-bottom fares with the ability to only pay for what you need. They have a whole section of their website dedicated to educating passengers how to fly them and how their fees work.
