Spirit Airlines Looks to Its Loyalty Program for Fresh Cash
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For low-cost-carriers, loyalty programs often have been an afterthought. That's why Spirit's isn't worth much, compared to legacy carrier schemes.
Spirit Airlines does not have the richest frequent flyer programs for customers or investors, but it is nonetheless trying to use its loyalty schemes to raise $600 million from private markets amid the worst economic disaster in commercial aviation history.
Spirit's proposal is far from as lucrative as one United Airlines announced in June. United said it could tap its mammoth program, MileagePlus, for roughly $6.8 billion in new money. But Spirit's rationale is similar, with the airline betting its loyalty programs are among most valuable assets, perhaps more enticing than the usual assets airlines use to secure new money, such as airplanes, gates, routes and airport slots.
Spirit has two loyalty programs, a subscription service called the $9 Fare Club, and a traditional points program called Free Spirit. The two have been appraised at $1.9 billion, including the value of the company's
