Spirit Airlines
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| Spirit Airlines | ||
|---|---|---|
| IATA NK |
ICAO NKS |
Callsign SPIRIT WINGS |
| Founded | 1980 | |
| Hubs | Ft. Lauderdale Int'l Airport Detroit Metro Int'l Airport |
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| Frequent flyer program | Free Spirit | |
| Fleet size | 33 | |
| Destinations | 29 | |
| Parent company | Spirit Airlines, Inc. | |
| Headquarters | Miramar, Florida | |
| Key people | William A. Franke, Chairman B. Ben Baldanza, President/CEO |
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| Website: http://www.spiritair.com | ||
Spirit Airlines is a United States low-cost airline operating nationwide scheduled and charter flights. The airline is headquartered in Miramar, Florida. About of a quarter of the airline's flights are to destinations in the Carribean, Bahamas, and Latin America.
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[edit] History
Spirit Airlines began in 1980 as Charter One, a Detroit-based charter tour operator providing travel packages to entertainment destinations such as Atlantic City, Las Vegas and the Bahamas. In 1990, Charter One began scheduled service from Boston and Providence, R.I. to Atlantic City. On May 29, 1992 Charter One brought jet equipment into the fleet, changed its name to Spirit Airlines and inaugurated service from Detroit to Atlantic City.
In April 1993, Spirit Airlines began scheduled service to destinations in Florida. During the next five years, Spirit expanded rapidly, increasing service from Detroit and adding service in new markets such as Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Los Angeles and New York.
Spirit relocated its headquarters in December 1999, moving from Eastpointe, Michigan to Miramar, Florida. Expansion continued with the addition of the Chicago market as well as coast-to-coast service to Los Angeles. In November 2001, Spirit inaugurated service to San Juan, Puerto Rico and implemented a fully integrated Spanish-language customer service plan including a website and dedicated reservation line. In 2002, Spirit started new service to Denver, Colo. and Las Vegas, Nevada and expanded service to many of its existing markets. In the Fall of 2003, Spirit resumed flights to Washington, D.C’s Reagan National Airport, which had been suspended after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and began service to Cancun, Mexico.
In September 2002, Spirit introduced Spirit Plus, an upgraded coach class featuring 36-inch seat pitch, dedicated check-in counters, priority boarding, and complimentary cocktails & snacks.
In 2004 Spirit discontinued service to Denver, Colorado, citing high operating costs. As part of a recently announced expansion plan that includes the Caribbean and Central and South America, the airline added Santo Domingo and Providence to its network. In 2005, Spirit Airlines launched its biggest expansion effort yet, adding numerous destinations in the Caribbean and Bahamas. By February 2006, Spirit's portfolio of holiday destinations in the regions totaled ten. Spirit also began service to Grand Cayman, San Francisco, and Boston in 2006, and has filed DOT applications to offer service to Mexico City.
In 2006 Spirit launched a frequent flyer program called FREE SPIRIT. It offers award travel starting at 15,000 miles, lower than most other frequent flyer programs. The FREE SPIRIT program also guarantees award availability on every flight.
[edit] Destinations
To see the destinations of Spirit Airlines, see Spirit Airlines destinations.
[edit] Fleet
[edit] Current Fleet
Spirit Airlines formerly operated McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft, and currently operates an All-Airbus fleet, that consists of the following aircraft:
| Type | Total | Passengers (Spirit Plus/Economy) |
Routes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A319-100 | 25 |
|
Short-Medium Haul | |
| Airbus A321-200 | 8 |
|
Short-Medium Haul |
[edit] Retired Fleet
[edit] FREE SPIRIT
In 2006, Spirit launched a frequent flyer program called FREE SPIRIT. The five "status levels" for members are Somebody, Elite, VIP, A-List, and Celebrity, offering progressively increasing benefits. As with several other frequent flyer programs, one's level of membership increases as one accumulates additional frequent flyer miles. Also, FREE SPIRIT has followed in the tradition of other frequent flyer programs by linking itself with an affinity credit card. Spirit's marketing efforts for this program have claimed that FREE SPIRIT's benefits are above and beyond those offered by other airlines' frequent flyer programs. One unique aspect of the program, is that all miles count towards status regardless of where they were earned (credit card, partner offers, flights etc.)[1]
