Spirit Aircraft Order

[MadDog74]

Captdawg.....spirit crews....I have not seen anything official on the Airbus order....are all the aircraft going to be 319 aircraft or will there be a mixture of 320 and 321 aircraft?

Any new destinations?

MD

 

[enigma]

Captdawg.....spirit crews....I have not seen anything official on the Airbus order....are all the aircraft going to be 319 aircraft or will there be a mixture of 320 and 321 aircraft?

Any new destinations?

MD

Why in the world would you ask a Spirit pilot about things such as this?

We know nossing, Herr Kommandant!

Seriously, I will guess that we will take whatever we can get cheap. We heard last year that they had found some 321's that could be acquired cheap, and I wouldn't doubt that we might pick up something like the 321 for said low price. I do imagine that the newly produced aircraft will all be the same model, most likely the 320. I don't think that the 319 will carry enough seats for our sardine can philosophy and the 321 doesn't have the performance to get out of some hot/high destinations(or so I'm told).

enigma

 

[G4G5]

NEW YORK -- Low-fare carrier Spirit Airlines, preparing for a big expansion out of its Fort Lauderdale, Fla., hub, said it signed agreements to acquire 35 Airbus aircraft valued at $2 billion, Friday's Wall Street Journal reported.

The closely held Miramar, Fla., carrier recently received a $125 million venture-capital investment from Oaktree Capital Management LLC, of Los Angeles. Spirit said it would use the cash infusion to help more than double its fleet in the next few years.

Spirit plans to retire its aging fleet of 32 MD-80 aircraft and replace it with the fleet of new A321s and A319s, of which it expects to begin taking delivery in March 2005. In the meantime, the company is looking into acquiring some used aircraft to help in its expansion, a company spokeswoman said.

Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter Evan Perez contributed to this report.

 

[storminpilot]

Spirit Air Poised to Buy 35 Airbus

http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/040319/0407000221_1.html

Dow Jones Business News
Spirit Air Poised to Buy 35 Airbus Planes for $2 Billion
Friday March 19, 4:07 am ET


NEW YORK -- Low-fare carrier Spirit Airlines, preparing for a big expansion out of its Fort Lauderdale, Fla., hub, said it signed agreements to acquire 35 Airbus aircraft valued at $2 billion, Friday's Wall Street Journal reported.

The closely held Miramar, Fla., carrier recently received a $125 million venture-capital investment from Oaktree Capital Management LLC, of Los Angeles. Spirit said it would use the cash infusion to help more than double its fleet in the next few years.

Spirit plans to retire its aging fleet of 32 MD-80 aircraft and replace it with the fleet of new A321s and A319s, of which it expects to begin taking delivery in March 2005. In the meantime, the company is looking into acquiring some used aircraft to help in its expansion, a company spokeswoman said.

Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter Evan Perez contributed to this report.

 

[zonker]

Spirit Airlines
To Buy 35 Planes
In $2 Billion Deal

By EVAN PEREZ
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 19, 2004

Low-fare carrier Spirit Airlines, preparing for a big expansion out of its Fort Lauderdale, Fla., hub, said it signed agreements to acquire 35 Airbus aircraft valued at $2 billion.

The closely held Miramar, Fla., carrier recently received a $125 million venture-capital investment from Oaktree Capital Management LLC, of Los Angeles. Spirit said it would use the cash infusion to help more than double its fleet in the next few years.

Spirit plans to retire its aging fleet of 32 MD-80 aircraft and replace it with the fleet of new A321s and A319s, of which it expects to begin taking delivery in March 2005. In the meantime, the company is looking into acquiring some used aircraft to help in its expansion, a company spokeswoman said.

"Spirit already has one of the lowest costs of operation in the airline industry, and the new Airbus aircraft, which are technologically advanced and fuel-efficient, will ensure our continued leadership," said Jacob Schorr, chairman and chief executive of Spirit.

The agreements with European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co.'s Airbus, IAE International Aero Engines AG and International Lease Finance Corp., a unit of American International Group, include an option for Spirit to acquire another 60 aircraft, worth as much as $5 billion.

People familiar with the situation said that while both Airbus and Boeing Co. bid on the Spirit orders, Boeing didn't enter into final negotiations, preferring instead to save its powder for coming battles, such as the one expected later this year to supply Richard Branson's Virgin Group with airplanes for a planned low-cost U.S. carrier.

Flying mostly routes from the Midwest and the Northeast to Florida, 13-year-old Spirit has carved a profitable, yet little-noticed, niche in the low-fare segment of the industry. The company began service to San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2002 and last fall added service to Cancun, Mexico. It also added a new "upgraded coach" class to its planes. Spirit said it plans to increase the frequency of flights on existing routes and to start flying new routes in the coming months.

The carrier is competing in an increasingly crowded segment of the industry, with robust expansion under way by JetBlue Airways and AirTran Holdings Inc.'s AirTran Airways, and a new low-fare entry, Independence Air, taking off this year from Atlantic Coast Airlines Holdings. Mainline carriers have gotten in the game with Delta Air Lines' Song, and Ted from UAL Corp.'s United Airlines unit.

Write to Evan Perez at [email protected]

 

[enigma]

"Spirit plans to retire its aging fleet of 32 MD-80 aircraft and replace it with the fleet of new A321s and A319s"


Looks like I guessed wrong. I guessed 320's. Oh well.

enigma