Spirit Airlines Shifts Growth Strategy From Adding New U.S. Cities
Skift Take
Spirit Airlines entered seven new markets last year. Don't look for that to happen again in 2020. The airline's network is reaching maturity.
Spirit Airlines was on the move last year, adding seven new cities, including Austin, Indianapolis, Nashville, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, and Sacramento, part of a push to diversify where the airline flies. But adding so many new markets is rarely good for business — it takes a while to win new customers — so Spirit will pull back on new cities this year in an attempt to boost profits, executives said Thursday.
Spirit in 2020 will expand mostly through what the industry calls "connecting the dots," or adding routes between existing markets. It'll also add frequencies on strongly performing city pairs, mainly "to large underserved leisure markets," like Florida, CEO Ted Christie said Thur
