Winning on cost is our raison d’etre. Our only competitive advantage. We cannot win on revenue because we cannot command any revenue premium to speak of without scale. We can offer the same exact onboard product as the legacies (basic economy), and pax who have any ability to choose (read: discretionary income) will still choose the legacy basic economy every time because the legacy has scale.

They go when the pax wants to go (instead of at 5am or the redeye), they have frequency in case the pax plans change, and they have the network to save the day when sh*t hits the fan.

The last couple years seem to prove that the ULCC market is limited and we can’t reliably grow organically because the market’s not getting any bigger. That’s why Spirit has to happen for us: it allows us to grow without infringing on another ULCC’s share of the pie, and it gives us the scale to allow us access to an even larger pie (customers who have some discretionary income but demand a more substantial network).