Calling Spirit Airlines on the Ouija Board
Will customers miss this carrier if it dies?
“There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” – Sam Walton
You may soon need a modified Ouija Board to contact Spirit Airlines – one that includes dollar symbols.
At Spirit Airlines, no matter how small your “Spirit-ual” request, the answer is always: $$$.
This is the carrier that helped pioneer the business of luring customers with loss-leader fares and then slamming them with an annoying array of charges.
Someday, it may be nickeled-and-dimed to death by bankruptcy attorneys.
Cutting its way to your heart
For now, Spirit Airlines is chiseling itself. The Miramar, Fla.-based company said this week it would furlough 260 pilots and defer deliveries on new Airbus jets – moves that will preserve cash, but also curb revenue opportunities. And just in time for the summer travel season.
Despite booming post-pandemic air-travel demand, this airline has lost money for the past six quarters, amounting to annual losses of $447 million in 2023 and $554 million in 2022.
Its stock, which trades under the ticker symbol SAVE, has nosedived more than 72% so far this year.
Some analysts have said Spirit is spiraling toward bankruptcy.
Blame it on issues with Pratt & Whitney engines. Or blame it on the Justice Department, which has scuttled a life-saving merger between Spirit and JetBlue. But does America really need a monopoly in the rude-service, fee-grubbing, passenger-stranding segment of the airline industry?
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