Sailor

All quiet on this end.

bubi352

alli giant, are you guys getting Airbuses?

ALPO Whisperer

I'll add my $0.02 to this discussion...

Shortly before Spirit's IPO, its my understanding that NK's owners/management met with ALGT. Spirit was cash flow negative for three straight quarters going into the IPO, yet was "posting profits." The extent of those talks I do NOT know...

With that said, NK's owners decided to go forward with an IPO. Spirit has embarked upon an aggresive growth strategy since the IPO. It's more about getting to a level where the airline can self-sustain its own growth (ie, critical mass) rather than depending upon outsiders to constantly put money into the operation. Along the way, NK's owners have done a lot in the way of adding value to the enterprise, especially with the recent order for 75 A320 series jets.

Since the IPO, Spirit has seen a marked shift in strategy from Latin American expansion to more domestic and secondary markets. It started with LBE, CRW, IAG, PBG and has now progressed to more western US markets. Spirit's now serving an ALGT stronghold (AZA). C'mon...really?

NK's focus is now shifting towards high fare business centers connecting with vacation and VFR (visiting friends & relatives) destinations. ALGT's focus remains connecting secondary markets with vacation destinations. If you combined the two networks, one could argue it would result in a very strong network that would open up endless growth opportunites with all the new markets combined. There's a lot of risk involved though...and that's for another discussion at a later time.

Now, if Spirit can't grow to that critical mass threshold, then one has to ask the following question: What's the future gonna look like if the operation can't produce enough revenues to finance its growth?

IMHO, a merger between Spirit and Allegiant would make sense. Both have similar business models and lead the industry in ancillary revenue initiatives. It shouldn't come as a suprise to anyone if it were to happen.

captscott26

Well, you seem to have it all figured out. Good for you.

Lemonade

Nice analysis Whisperer. I think you got it.

ALPO Whisperer

@CaptScott...You can ignore my paranoidal, delusional, theoretical post if it would make you happy...


Its been stated before that ALGT may be looking at the Airbus. They may have invited NK management over simply to talk about the growing pains/lessons learned of transitioning from a Mad Dog fleet to an Airbus fleet. I think Spirit did that transition quite successfully and may have something to share on a professional level with a company like ALGT.

Point is...just because two managements meet, doesn't necessarily mean there is a plot or something big planned (or something I can turn into a delusional theory!!). They could be discussing a number of things that companies do all the time on a professional courtesy basis.

Tine

I'll stick with these delusions you spout off while flying the line.

I used to work at SWA.
I play golf with Chip and Skip the chief pilots at SWA at "my golf club" on a weekly basis.
I flew the 747 at NWA
I got accepted to Princeton Medical School last year and decided not to go
I played on the University of Texas golf team
Spirit will never go public
American Airlines didn't buy Spirit because it's not profitable
I have an ATP.
I play golf with Rod Pampling and fly with him to Augusta every year
My girlfriend is a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader
I work on the side as a financial guru for some hedge or mutual fund evaluating airline profitability.

Sell it elsewhere we are all tired of it.

gatorbird

It's responses like these that get darts thrown your way- haven't you figured that out yet? What's so wrong with the guys analogy? Looks spot on to me.

captscott26

The answer can be found in Tine's post above.

gatorbird

Okay, I see your point. I don't really care how many Cowboys or Cowgirls he dates though, nor who he chases a silly little white ball around with- he made a good point to a question that was asked. I'll give credit where credit is due.