Spirit Airlines announces even more destinations from St. Louis and Louisville today. Here’s where they are going next.
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Spirit Destinations Grow
Spirit Airlines is adding new flights from two of its newest cities, St. Louis, MO (STL) and Louisville, Kentucky (SDF). Both cities will add Fort Myers, Florida (RSW), and Tampa, Florida (TPA.) All of the destinations for the new routes are sunny destinations for both.
In the case of St. Louis, Spirit will more than double its footprint in St. Louis from five daily flights to nine, but what makes it even more interesting is that in both Louisville and St. Louis, these route expansions come on the day of inaugural service for both cities. This demonstrates strong demand for current flights and confidence about what is to come. Here are the routes:
St. Louis, Missouri (STL)
- Fort Lauderdale (FLL) May 27th, 2021
- Las Vegas (LAS) May 27th, 2021
- Los Angeles (LAX) May 27th, 2021
- Orlando (MCO) May 27th, 2021
- Pensacola (PNS) June 10th, 2021
- Fort Myers (RSW) November 17th, 2021
- Phoenix (PHX) November 17th, 2021
- Tampa (TPA) November 17th, 2021
- Cancun (CUN) December 22nd, 2021
All flights from St. Louis run daily though the newest flights won’t launch until November, just in time for snowbirds’ annual migrations south. Cancun is the first international destination from St. Louis for Spirit Airlines.
Cancun daily nonstops flights are less surprising if it were to only run around the holidays, American Airlines ran one seasonally on Saturdays from Pittsburgh, United Airlines did the same from Cleveland. As this is daily and not listed as seasonal, the addition raises eyebrows and should be a good sign for flyers from Lambert Field.
Louisville, Kentucky (SDF)
- Fort Lauderdale (FLL) May 27th, 2021
- Las Vegas (LAS) May 27th, 2021
- Los Angeles (LAX) May 27th, 2021
- Orlando (MCO) May 27th, 2021
- Pensacola (PNS) – 3x weekly – June 10th, 2021
- Fort Myers (RSW) – 4x weekly – November 17th, 2021
- Tampa (TPA) – 3x weekly – November 18th, 2021
Louisville adds some long-distance legs to the mix, and more to Florida showing insatiable demand for the sunshine state.
Reshaping the Domestic Map
This expansion reminds me of Ryan Air and Southwest. When either carrier enters a new city, they don’t just fly to their hubs, they nearly make those cities a “concentration city” (though Ryan Air calls them all hubs or bases – its 19th largest base flies nonstop to 48 destinations.) For Spirit’s part, Fort Lauderdale is a key hub, Las Vegas, LAX, and Orlando receive a large number of flights too, but the carrier’s original hub, Detroit (DTW), doesn’t get a single flight from either city.
Other carriers have restructured their route networks to satisfy domestic demand while international had dried up nearly entirely. In these cases, we see mostly leisure routes from traditional business cities. However, will Spirit return airports like St. Louis to more nonstop destinations as it once held decades ago prior to deregulation?
St. Louis, in particular, has gone from a substantial international hub 20 years ago with TWA to nearly empty. American kept lots of routes and crew bases for the first few years of its TWA acquisition but ultimately sunset nearly all of those routes. Southwest made a push but has backed off its sprawling approach. Now Spirit sees strong demand and instantly adds more nonstops, something a former hub typically craves.
The real question is whether Spirit will go after the purely business routes like New York, Seattle, San Francisco, or Boston. They haven’t backed away from the competition. Unlike Allegiant which uses a different Ryan Air tactic: flying from nowhere to somewhere (Grand Island, Nebraska to Las Vegas) or somewhere to nowhere (Pittsburgh to Punta Gorda, Florida) – Spirit will fly right into the main airport like Houston Intercontinental (IAH) over Houston Hobby (HOU.) Spirit’s enjoyed success flying directly against the Big 3, opting for LAX in this example over Burbank, Orange County, or Long Beach.
However, with more nonstop routes from Spirit, domestic competitors will add flights too,
Personal Connection
As someone who grew up in the midwest, I am really excited to see Spirit stretching their legs outside of cities that already have significant nonstop service. They added Kansas City recently, and I am always rooting for cities like Omaha because expansions like these turn occasional travelers into frequent travelers. Louisville is larger than Omaha, certainly, but doesn’t benefit from the kind of direct service from other carriers that it should. This is a step in that direction.
I also have family and friends that fly these routes currently with substantial connections (sometimes flying Fort Myers to Denver t0 St. Louis) which is maddening. They will be elated to shorten that nearly cross-country journey to just a couple of hours.
Conclusion
Spirit’s destinations are increasing and the routes that connect them to cities they already serve. I am excited to see it’s not purely seasonal traffic. Given St. Louis’ history, I am glad that travelers are voting with their wallets in these markets already, giving confidence to the overall travel community and Spirit as it continues to grow its list of destinations.
What do you think? Will you fly one of these routes? Will other carriers decide to compete directly?
So, more fights now, eh?
You paint a bleaker picture for STL than reality would suggest.