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Home » Spirit » Spirit Airlines To Become Second Largest From San Juan
Spirit

Spirit Airlines To Become Second Largest From San Juan

Kyle Stewart Posted onFebruary 19, 2023February 19, 2023 6 Comments

Spirit Airlines announced an increase in flights and frequencies from San Juan, Puerto Rico, becoming the second-largest carrier in the US commonwealth.


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Spirit Expands At San Juan International Airport

Spirit Airlines announced this week that it would become the second-largest carrier by available seat mile (ASM) at San Juan International Airport in Puerto Rico.

“Highlights include:

  • Increases Orlando to San Juan service to 5x daily starting May 5

  • New flights from San Juan to Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit and Hartford launch by June

  • Expansion increases San Juan service to 21 peak-day departures in SJU by June 2023, making Spirit the second-largest carrier by destinations, seats and available seat miles (ASM)

  • More than 200% growth in Puerto Rico in the past four years” – Spirit“

The Ultra Low-Cost Carrier is launching with $59 one-ways to new cities.

Spirit’s footprint at the airport is marked by major markets and specifically hub cities. Ten of the airline’s 13 destinations are hubs for either Southwest, United, American, Delta, or JetBlue.

Spirit Airlines Routes at San Juan (SJU)
Destination:Flights Available:Launch Date:
Atlanta (ATL) NEWDaily5-May
Boston (BOS)DailyExisting
Hartford (BDL) NEW3x Weekly7-Jun
Baltimore (BWI)2x DailyFrequency increases on May 5
Dallas (DFW) NEWDaily5-May
Detroit (DTW) NEWDaily5-May
Newark (EWR) 2x DailyFrequency increases on June 7
Fort Lauderdale (FLL) 2x DailyFrequency increases on April 5
Orlando (MCO) 5x DailyFrequency increases on May 5
Miami (MIA)DailyExisting Service
Chicago (ORD) NEWDaily5-May
Philadelphia (PHL)DailyExisting Service
Tampa (TPA)DailyExisting Service

Targets Delta, American Airlines

Delta will see a direct challenge with two of the new daily flight additions targeting Detroit and Atlanta. American Airlines, however, should feel some pressure with new daily flights to Chicago O’Hare and Dallas Fort Worth, but also increased frequencies to Fort Lauderdale and maintainence of its Miami flight as well.

American Airlines and US Airways more or less owned SJU with the latter flying long-haul premium product A330s on the route seasonally from Charlotte and Philadelphia. American remains the largest carrier at the airport despite these advances, but Spirit is demonstrating that customers have responded to its business model and it won’t be intimidated from expanding where there is opportunity.

Conclusion

Spirit Airlines continues to grow and expand even into tough major markets that serve as fortress hubs for competitors. San Juan, Puerto Rico benefits from additional traffic making resident travel easier and growing tourism. Spirit’s expanded presence also helps to keep prices low from those important corresponding cities. I’d love to see more competition against American’s dominance at SJU, but more importantly, Spirit is unafraid to take on any challengers and goes right at their core markets.

What do you think? Does Spirit’s growth at SJU help even if you don’t fly the carrier? Do you think its a clever or careless strategy to target competitor hubs? 

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About Author

Kyle Stewart

Kyle is a freelance travel writer with contributions to Time, the Washington Post, MSNBC, Yahoo!, Reuters, Huffington Post, MapHappy, Live And Lets Fly and many other media outlets. He is also co-founder of Scottandthomas.com, a travel agency that delivers "Travel Personalized." He focuses on using miles and points to provide a premium experience for his wife and daughter. Email: sherpa@thetripsherpa.com

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6 Comments

  1. Jason Reply
    February 19, 2023 at 8:21 am

    American has no “dominance” at San Juan. It is, as you point out, the 5th largest there. Why do you contradict yourself? These days, JetBlue is the largest with the dominance.

  2. Nick Reply
    February 19, 2023 at 8:27 am

    Did you accidentally copy/paste that last paragraph from a 10 year old article?

  3. Mateo Reply
    February 19, 2023 at 8:45 am

    AA serves only 5 destinations from SJU. At the time of the AA/US merger AA had already dehubbed SJU so US never dominated the island. AA had a small hub in the 1980s and 1990s with under 100 flights but never a domination of the island.

  4. Carlos Reply
    February 19, 2023 at 10:24 am

    You get what you pay for. Spirit is a heavily discounted airline. Traveling to P.R. is OK if you carry a small overnight bag you can tuck under the front seat and a good paperback book to read. If you’re a frequent flyer to the island you can’t beat Southwest. I always worry about safety issues. Time will tell.

  5. Exit Row Seat Reply
    February 19, 2023 at 12:48 pm

    There’s only so much passenger yield with SJU. Most will be tourist on a budget, PAX cashing in loyalty points, or US government employees traveling on a contract rate….similar to Hawaii. It more for bragging right as opposed to solid revenue growth. And all of this will shift should the merger be approved as B6 attempts to penetrate the heartland of the US. Time will tell.

  6. Daurys Reply
    May 5, 2023 at 10:10 am

    As an avid traveler and plane freak that I am, I know it’s impossible to know it all but sometimes it’s very important to verify the facts specially if we’re writing an article that people may use as a trusted source. I’m sure this is what you want for yourself: Credibility.
    Now for the corrections:
    1. American Airlines retired their A330s in 2020 : https://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2020/A-fond-farewell-to-five-fantastic-fleets-FLT-04/default.aspx
    2. American Airlines WAS the dominant carrier for most of the 1990s and early 2000s but since 2008 – or 15yrs ago – it’s just a shade of it’s former self, even dropping the staple JFK-SJU route.
    3. American Airlines DID offer, surprisingly, 777 service between MIA, DFW and CLT during high season for the past 2 years, which was a rare occurrence. It has gone back to narrowbody aircraft.
    4. US Airways was never dominant in SJU not even at its peak. Most flights were to CLT, PIT and PHL.
    5. Current dominant carrier in SJU is jetBlue, serving over 12 cities compared to American’s 5.

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