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“We do really well in Cancun and Punta Cana and Montego Bay. “A lot of it is how we do in the markets that we’re going to,” Kirby answered when asked about his perspective on the expansion. In Kirby’s mind, this is less about competing with American (and to an extent Frontier), and more about the natural growth trajectory for Spirit’s Philly station.
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Though the Philly expansion shares a similar strategy - growth in an incumbent carrier’s fortress hub - Spirit views this one differently. With 31 routes, Spirit is poised to become the second-largest airline in Miami after American. Perhaps the biggest network-focused story this year from Spirit Airlines is the launch of service from Miami - historically a fortress hub for American Airlines. We’re going to double the size with double the number of kiosks there,” Kirby said. In addition to doubling the number of gates, “we’re also going to be expanding our ticket counter space in the beginning of the year. The airport is willing to make moves if they feel like there’s an opportunity and resources being underutilized,” according to Kirby. Rather, “the airport took back two Southwest gates because they had seven gates, and they only had eight operations. The airport didn’t build new gates for Spirit. To support the new flights, Spirit will be taking over two additional gates in the airport’s Concourse E, bringing the total number of gates that Spirit uses to four. Kirby cited what he described as the tireless effort of his long-time friend Jim Tyrrell, PHL’s chief revenue officer, and Chellie Cameron, PHL’s CEO, for working to facilitate Spirit’s expansion. Spirit’s Philadelphia Expansion (Map courtesy of Cirium)Īs for why the airline waited until now, it largely boils down to getting space at the airport. Spirit’s Philly expansion has “been in the works for a while,” according to Kirby. At the time, there were over 100 passengers per day on Southwest’s nonstop according to Department of Transportation data - which bodes well for Spirit’s Oakland ambitions. Southwest last flew between Philly and Oakland in October 2007. “We think the market is much bigger than it appears to be in the Cirium data,” he added. “People have to use San Francisco today because there is no Oakland service or they have to go on a connection,” he said. Department of Transportation data analyzed by Cirium shows that only 39 passengers on average flew between Philly and Oakland per day in 2019.īut again, Kirby believes he has good reasoning for flying to Oakland. If a chunk of that market could be convinced to fly to Aguadilla instead, then Spirit’s new flight might be successful.Ī similar story is true in Oakland. There were over 530 daily passengers flying between Philly and San Juan in 2019 on average. But this is offering them an alternative to maybe go closer to where they want to go.” If they have to, they’ll fly into San Juan. A lot of people going to Puerto Rico… their family and their friends are from the western coast. “We serve Aguadilla today, and it is a very strong market for us. (Spirit’s smallest aircraft, the Airbus A319, seats 145 passengers.) In 2019, there were under ten daily passengers flying between Philly and Aguadilla, according to Department of Transportation data analyzed by Cirium. The second-largest carrier in Philly (either Delta or Frontier, depending on the month) has just over 50 daily departures.Īs for adding connecting Philly with Aguadilla, Kirby explained that there’s “a very large Puerto Rican population in the area.”Įven so, the airline will seemingly need to stimulate lots of demand to make its new route work. American Airlines is the largest carrier in Philly, with over 350 daily departures.
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“How often do you get a chance to go into brand-new markets from a fortress hub,” John Kirby, Spirit’s vice president of network planning, told TPG in an exclusive interview about the expansion. This includes Aguadilla, Puerto Rico (BQN) and Oakland, California (OAK).
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While the expansion is noteworthy for Spirit, it’s also a big deal for the airport as a whole: two of the seven routes are to previously unserved destinations from PHL.
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You’ll find the full list of new routes at the bottom of the post, but highlights include tapping into two unserved markets from Philly through a big growth spurt in terms of airport real estate. 16 and continues throughout the first few months of 2022. The Miramar, Florida-based carrier is adding seven new routes from Philadelphia, as well as increasing existing service to Cancun (CUN). Spirit Airlines is growing its Philadelphia network in a big way beginning early next year.