Spirit Anticipates Profits Later This Year Even With Growing Competition for Leisure Travelers
Photo Credit: Interior of a Spirit Airlines A320 aircraft Spirit Airlines / Spirit Airlines
Skift Take
Spirit delivered better than expected earnings, but just barely. The company is preparing for fuller loads and a return to profits, confident in its strengths flying to leisure destinations. But a lot of carriers have expressed that same confidence.
The pandemic airlines recovery has seen a scramble to capture leisure travelers in the U.S., with legacy carriers adding routes to leisure destinations to make up for the shortfall of business travelers. That's brought heavy competition to low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, which had seen success taking flyers to places like Florida and Las Vegas well before Covid was a household name.
Spirit said this week it likes where it is at despite the big carrier competition, with strength on routes to Florida, Vegas, and California, so much so it expects to be profitable in the second half.
In fact, Spirit expects to be flying as much as it did in 2019 by the end of this year.
"The leisure travel demand recovery has taken root," said CEO Ted Christie on an earnings call this week. "There may still be some bumps ahead, but as vaccines are more widely available, case counts abate and travel restrictions ease, Spirit is
