Originally Posted by
ovrtake92
That chart is a great illustration of why many of us choose to work at Spirit over a Legacy. It's easy to see, while times are good, the big money and stability of the big guys. However, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling that Spirit can keep the profits even when things go sour again. Less susceptible to the vicious cycle that is aviation and I'm confident Ive made the right choice knowing full well that I could just as easily go to a legacy as anyone. Now if the next contract is a turd, then I'll be off like a prom dress to greener pastures. And also, X2 on how the hell does Southwest do it???
I agree. Staying here vs leaving for a major boils down to a choice between relatively higher stability vs compensation. The older you are the more you will lean toward stability. Of course it also boils down to whether you get the call or not.
Spirit operates in an undeserved market segment. Many domestic markets still don't offer low cost fares. Add to that, due to the income pyramid, our market segment is the largest to begin with. It is no wonder every new route fills up instantly. There are no guarantees but as far as stability we are looking pretty good.
I think the largest obstacle in the way of our growth will be infrastructure. Nobody wants to give us gates for the prices we can pay in any of our hubs. I think this is why Ben was not all that happy about low fuel prices when he was talking about "capacity discipline". I feel he was banking on a coming economic slowdown, followed by the usual capacity cuts, which in turn could free up gate space in our hubs. I believe a good chunk of the overlap in service created by M&A is still there. But as long everybody is making money nobody is in a rush to park old equipment. I have no idea where we will put all this growth in 2015. IAH had some announcements and we all heard rumors about FLL, MIA but those are unlikely. I duuunnnooo... It will be interesting to see what happens this year.