Is Spirit Airlines going out of business? A significant American ultra-low-cost airline is Spirit Airlines Inc. Spirit offers regularly scheduled flights across the US, the Caribbean, and Latin America. As of 2020, Spirit was North America’s eighth-largest passenger airline. Spirit Airlines’ critics may finally get their wish for it to go forever after inspiring many jokes and social media regrets.
Spirit Airlines continues to be hopeful about the future. It expects that when margins grow, they will eventually turn positive. Instead of losses, the airline will declare profits. Spirit announced that it would be collaborating with JetBlue on July 28, 2022.
The merger of JetBlue, a low-cost airline famed for its outstanding benefits, and Spirit, an ultra-low-cost airline that is frequently the subject of jokes about flying, has taken place. After the merger between Spirit and Frontier failed, the $3.8 billion all-cash offer was made. JetBlue Spirit Airlines is currently the fifth-largest airline in the United States.
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Is Spirit Airlines still operating in 2023?
Spirit doesn’t provide a free food or beverage option. As a result, travelers frequently bring food on flights, which has inspired several memes. Budget flights have severe drawbacks, besides the absence of refreshments. They happen as often as coping with a canceled flight, missing luggage, or too long or short connecting flights.
There is a genuine low-frills budget airline culture. To increase our chances of a trouble-free flight, we should adhere to a few ground rules when traveling.
Critics of the airline may cheer Spirit’s ultimate demise. Spirit wasn’t the only tiny airline utilizing this approach, but for better or worse, it came to be linked with it. At the same time, Spirit attracted a lot of attention for its controversial passenger advertisements that played on issues.
There are still problems; this summer, meltdowns on Spirit caused cancellations and delays for several days. Additionally, only 69 percent of flights landed on schedule in May 2022. In the most recent month for which statistics are available, placing Spirit was eighth out of ten.
At least 35 routes were terminated by Spirit Airlines in January 2022. It’s because air carriers won’t be able to rebound and increase their schedules due to industry-wide problems. Several of Spirit’s canceled routes pass through Florida. Using data from Dio, it can be shown that there are seven from each Fort Myers and Tampa, six from Fort Lauderdale, three from Orlando, and two from Miami.
Compared to the previous week, the airline’s overall scheduled capacity for the first quarter of 2023 was lowered by 5%. The capacity will still increase by about 11% from last year and 35% from 2019.
Global supply chain problems are a problem for airlines. It causes new aircraft deliveries to be delayed. It also results in a need for more parts essential for maintaining aircraft already in service. The production challenges at both Airbus and Boeing affect all airlines equally.
The ongoing staffing problems at Spirit make things more difficult. It took place at the Jacksonville air traffic control facility, which handles most flights into and out of Florida.
On the same conference call, the discounter’s commercial head, Matt Klein, stated that due to air traffic control issues, Spirit has reduced flights. Flights between Florida and the other side of the country have been reduced by around 10 points or 40% of their schedule.
For their $3.8 billion merger, Spirit and JetBlue are looking for the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust authorization. However, each airline continues to function separately and is prohibited from discussing schedules or other business matters once the agreement is authorized by authorities.
Even though the merger of JetBlue and Spirit Airlines has been announced, it has yet to be finalized. For now, the airlines will be known by different names. Early 2023 is the projected closing date for the deal. A thorough antitrust investigation of the combination is required. In addition, regulatory opposition might arise.
What will happen to Spirit Airlines?
Reviews of mergers are typical. However, President Joe Biden has focused on closely examining sectors like the aviation industry that have seen significant consolidation. In JetBlue’s instance, the DOJ is expected to look into several variables. They are
- The markets that both carriers serve
- The impact that any flight concentration would have on prices
- Whether Would service is impacted?
- If the merger would lessen the likelihood that the surviving carrier would grow into new cities or regions
Thus, all of these factors would be considered.
“Nothing else is changing right now—JetBlue and Spirit continue as independent airlines,” the airline’s official statement reads. In a press announcement about the deal, JetBlue stated this. They intend to slowly absorb Spirit planes after the shutdown. It was designed to achieve this by converting its current fleet to JetBlue specifications and providing Spirit customers with the JetBlue onboard experience.
Until the transaction’s completion, loyalty programs and co-branded credit cards will remain separate. However, after the merger, we might notice some improvements to the standard Spirit flying experience.
Is Spirit still going to be the terrible airline that people only use when they need a super-cheap fare? Most regular flyers are concerned about getting upgraded. Flyers wonder whether the aircraft’s features will transform it from the world’s most popular airplane joke to a carrier that people want to use.
Spirit travelers will receive the standard benefits from the new JetBlue. They will offer wider seats, legroom, and additional onboard extras like refreshments.
Peter Shankman is a businessman who flies 300,000 miles annually. He puts his frequent lying into context by saying, “The moon is 250,000 miles away.” Shankman agrees travelers will notice a higher standard from Spirit after the merger. However, vacationers undoubtedly consider that more important than those leaving on a work trip. He claims that he and other business travelers only use low-cost airlines.
But we must realize that folks who take a Spirit flight don’t do so to have a fantastic experience; instead, they visit Grandma for just $47, according to Shankman. And with that logic in mind, only a bit of improvement is required. “Even if Spirit just changes their boarding procedure, that will greatly boost the flying experience for Spirit.”
We will only be able to say how it will impact travel once the merger is fully completed. The availability and dependability of flights, as well as the price, are the two primary areas where the new airline may influence travel. The business claims the following in a news release:
For its 77 million total customers, the new JetBlue Spirit Airlines will offer additional options and selections. It offers over 1,700 daily flights to more than 125 locations across 30 countries. Based on schedules for December 2022, this was done.
JetBlue Spirit Airlines will overtake Alaska Airlines as the fifth-largest carrier in the United States, following American, Delta, United, and Southwest. Less competition generally means higher pricing. In fact, there is no sure way to know. Travelers will have to wait and see how things work out once the merger is completed.
Conclusion
These are all not going to happen right away. JetBlue and Spirit believe the merger will close in the first half of 2024 after receiving regulatory approval in late 2023 or early 2024. It takes time and money to integrate airlines. For instance, it took eight years following the 2010 merger of United and Continental for airline staff from those two airlines to even fly jointly.
Plane renovation might also take a long time. That process will not be able to begin with, Spirit’s fleet for JetBlue until at least 2025. However, the airline points out that it just installed new cabins in more than 100 of its Airbus aircraft. The CEO of JetBlue, Robin Hayes, stated, “We’ve got a lot of direct experience on how to accomplish it.”