Dallas Ft. Worth rumor

[DDpaysoff]

Spirit Airlines. I didn't know they even flew there, but apparently there is already a maintenance base there now, so maybe I am wrong. Anyone heard anything?

 

[enigma]

Spirit Airlines. I didn't know they even flew there, but apparently there is already a maintenance base there now, so maybe I am wrong. Anyone heard anything?

No current flights into Texas.

Our "suits" visited DFW a couple of months ago according to the grapevine. I root for my little company, but truthfully, we aren't likely to do much at DFW. We don't have the depth to fight with AMR, and our president seems more interested in demanding that we (the lowest paid narrow body pilots that I know of) take a pay cut and threatening Chapter 11 if we don't accept one. This is after he is repeatedly quoted in the South Florida Press as having stated that Spirit has the lowest non-fuel costs in the industry.

Additionally, apparently we don't serve areas unless there exists a large population of people who are looking for travel but aren't willing to pay more than $29 to ride in a ragged out (the interior, not mechanically) Maddog. Read the previous sentence to mean, all of the New Yorkers too cheap to fly on B6, AA, DL or WN. It pains me to admit that we don't attract many of the first/business class type passengers. Texans tend to look at airtravel as an adventure and give it some respect.

True we have a maintenance facility at KFTW. Spirit bought the old Eagle Aviations Services about four years ago, and we accomplish our heavy checks there, but if the Texas mx connection hasn't turned into a Texas schedule for the last four years, I doubt that anything currently happening will change anything.

Take this for what it's worth, the opinion of a line pilot who certainly hopes and prays that the Texas rumors pan out.

enigma

PS. Hey Lowecur, have you heard anything?

 

[DDpaysoff]

Maybe they are going to wait to see how the Wright ammendment appeal from luv comes out. But, there is definately some cheap rent at DFW right now, and I read somewhere that north texas is still the fastest growing economy in the nation. Anyway, I heard they were meeting with the DFW board in the coming weeks. Maybe, this is no big deal and they do this often, I don't know. Just what I heard. How big is the facility at meacham? I haven't been to that airport in years.

 

[enigma]

DD, Anything is possible.

Here are my reasons for thinking that Spirit will not serve DFW.

1. We tend to leave when competition heats up. Denver and Islip would be examples of this tendency.
2. We are currently focusing on central America and the Carribbean.
3. The new COO, Mr. Ben Baldanza, is from somewhere south of the border and he was involved in attempting to strengthen Airways Carribbean structure. He would appear to have been brought into Spirit to accomplish the same goal.
4. Spirit has two niche customers. First would be the Latin American natives now living on the east coast and upper midwest, (mainly east coast) who travel to FL and back south. Second are snowbirds and vacationers who want to get to Florida and the Carribbean. Texas does not have sizable populations of either customer. If we tried to sell the average Texan a ticket on a dirty, stinky Maddog, they'd laugh in our face. Texans are used to SWA, Delta, AA and Continental. All of the mentioned carriers fly mostly modern, clean aircraft. At this time, Spirit does not. We are buying more A319's, and plan to get rid of the MD80's within thirty six months, but at the present, all we have to offer is a bunch of (I know this is getting redundant) dirty, stinky maddogs.
5. Spirit's marketing team is ingrown, they don't seem to want to venture away from NY, NJ, Detroit and Chicago.
6. Finally, our management team does not have a history of bold forays into any market. I believe that a move into DFW would be out of character.


As I originally wrote, I truly hope that I am wrong. I would like nothing more than to see Spirit take advantage of our low costs and accomplish some growth. We have essentially remained stagnant for years. I also root for the Texas presence, but am not holding my breath.

Just in case anyone thinks that I am down on my employer, that is not the case. I am, however, honest. With that said, I am involved in certain areas, not to be mentioned on internet bulletin boards, that are intended to increase our competiveness, improve our product and make the job better for my fellow employees.

regards,
enimga

 

[enigma]

One more thought. Spirit doesn't have the ability to add new service at this point. We just don't have the aircraft. We are apparently attempting to find A319's, but I have not heard about any other than our orders. The orders are slated to do nothing more than replace MD80's for the next two years.

I can see two things that could change this, first if fuel got cheaper, then we might be able to continue to fly the Douglas's. If a current IAE A319 operator liquidated and some of those aircraft came available. In the first situation, fuel... if it gets cheaper for us, it gets cheaper for the competition. In a world of cheap kerosine, AA would be almost unbeatable.

In the second instance, if a carrier liquidated, I would think that we would be better off picking up some of the east coast slack instead of going against AA in the south.

gotta go, I've exhausted my remaining brain cells
enigma

 

[DDpaysoff]

Thanks for your information. I will keep updating my resume with them hoping the corner is turned. Best of luck to you.

 

[viking737]

Enigma.

How are your loads on the FLL-SDQ runs?
I noticed AA pulled out of the market shortly after you guys started flying it,
and now USAir is scheduled to start flying the route in Feb.