Originally Posted by
WHACKMASTER
The only thing for certain IMHO is that Spirit Airlines has a big acquisition target on its back. You guys are tearing it up and have gotten to be a thorn in the side of many of the big boys (AA in DFW & ORD, UAL in ORD, DAL in DTW, and SWA in BWI). Our CEO at SWA has said that the only ones we can’t compete with are Spirit because their costs are 30% less. He was spouting the same type of stuff before AirTran got bought. I’m not saying it’s going to be SWA (as I do think it’ll be AA), but one thing’s for sure.....the bigger players don’t want Spirit Airlines around so draw your own conclusion as to their intentions.
Whatever happens I wish you all the best.
If someone was going to buy Spirit they would've done it when their market cap was half as much last year.
SWA can't compete because they offer a similar product save for free bags. The legacies offer a wide range from first/business/economy plus to the cheap seats in addition to a large network and frequency of flights.
Spirit does a great job picking off the leisure guys and stimulating new traffic due to their cost structure. Actually a well managed airline, I have owned their stock off and on over the years when it makes sense. I do think they will continue to grow as will Frontier. Eventually you'll have to make a decision and go from point to point to hub/spoke.