Spirit Airlines Issues Dire Warning About Financials, Survival Prospects

Oh great... I just booked a January flight. I've also spent HOURS trying to get my Free Spirit account corrected and keep running into brick walls. At least I know there's a new CEO and I'll send him copies of my chat transcripts. My home airport is DTW.

It’s possible that Spirit might be in a better position had they been operating CFM engines instead of the P&W horrors that have caused a significant proportion of their fleet to be grounded for an intolerably long time. It’s also possible that a merger with JetBlue would have been advantageous. This is, however, the airline business, and strange voodoo always seems to play a part in the financial success or otherwise of any given carrier. Good luck, Spirit. You’re go’n need it.

Spirit is based in one of the countries wealthiest states. Why not just hit up the governor of FL for a govt bailout ?

I think when legacy carriers introduced basic fares that included nothing similar to that of the so called low cost carriers this affected the business model of the low cost carrier, unless the low cost carrier flies to certain satelite airports that are more convenient.

The DOJ blocking JetBlue's *ACQUISITION* of Spirit airlines was a bad call and a gross miscarriage of justice. Bad law plain and simple. There is a popular misconception among the public that the purpose of antitrust law is to guarantee low prices, this is not true. Traditional antitrust law, meaning statutory law passed by Congress, Clayton, Sherman, Robison-Patman etc. exist only to preserve competition in the marketplace. Low prices are not part of the antitrust mandate. Low prices were correctly viewed by the progressive-populists who wrote antitrust law as a short term marketing strategy, not a fixed quantity. No Capitalist ever wants to sell something for less if they can charge more. What is an acceptable level of competition/concentration is determined by the existing status quo the government has permitted. Traditional antitrust law only concerns itself with price in instances of "predatory pricing" (selling below cost with the aim of driving smaller/weaker competitor out of business) The source of the public's understandable antitrust price confusion is the right-wing, big-business, pro-merger ideology which has crept into antitrust through precedent to become de facto law, known as the "Consumer Welfare Principle". This doctrine basically says low prices are good and antitrust law be damned as long as prices come down. This has been the guiding principle of antitrust since the time of Regan/Bork. Johnathan Kanter auditioned for the job of DOJ Antitrust by vowing to end the reign of the Consumer Welfare Principle, whom critics blamed for a 40+ year wave of consolidations and surging monopoly power. Instead Kanter and the DOJ enshrined the concept even deeper with the cynical victory-at-all-cost, wacky consumer-welfare in reverse arguments against B6-NK. Concerning the point of competition, Judge Young himself stated: "...the Defendant Airlines provide strong evidence that the combined, post-merger airline would be procompetitive and result in substantial benefits for consumers" (pg 101) "The Defendant Airlines have demonstrated that an expansion of all aspects of JetBlue’s business -- including network, fleet, and loyalty program -- would allow for more vigorous competition with the Big Four, which carry most passengers in the country. The size of an airline, the number of routes it serves, the number of options it offers to consumers -- all of these aspects add to an airline’s relevance to consumers, and were JetBlue to become more relevant, it would immediately place more pressure on its greatest competitors, the Big Four. This pressure would benefit consumers. The Defendant Airlines have also demonstrated that the product JetBlue offers, though more expensive on average, is higher quality, and provides consumers with an enhanced flying experience. Were JetBlue to expand via the proposed acquisition, not only would that product become more widely available to more consumers, but the increased revenue available could also allow JetBlue to innovate further and create an even stronger customer experience. Overall, the Defendant Airlines have successfully met their relatively low burden to rebut the Government’s prima facie case." (pg 102/103) Why this judge ruled against this merger is beyond me unless he was bribed. As Spirit is proving in real time, what can't go on forever won't. A mouse can't win a bleeding contest with an elephant (Delta) and so it will be for Jet Blue if the government doesn't allow a merger/acquisition with a stronger party. It's in the best interest of the public if a *least bad* partner is selected from a pool of suitors instead of an unruly bankruptcy where employees and consumers are harmed and Delta gets an iron-clad monopolist lock on JFK and BOS. I see this as worst case for all except Delta executives.