Originally Posted by
FriendlyPilot
Spirit had 79 planes in 2015 and made $317M
Spirit had 88 planes in 2016 and made $264M
Spirit had 112 planes in 2017 and made $420M
Spirit had 128 planes in 2018 and made $155M
Spirit had 145 planes in 2019 and made $335M
Spirit had 213 planes in 2024 and lost $1.23B
If Spirit's problem is scale then why was it profitable when it was smaller and losing money now that is has scale?
American has scale and it lost money in Q1. Southwest has scale and lost $465M in 2024.
The problem is that Spirit isn't offering a product people want to pay enough for to cover its costs. It has nothing to do with scale nor credit cards. Spirit was profitable in the past without either of those.
You can’t say “the problem is that Spirit isn't offering a product people want to pay enough for” and simultaneously deny that ULCCs have a scale problem. People will pay more for a larger network: business travelers and others with the sort of discretionary income that can fund Spirit’s higher-than-2015 costs require frequency and the operational resilience that comes with a larger operation.
Furthermore, the attractiveness of the credit card (and thus its value to the company) is tied to the airline’s scale. What good are points if all I can use them for is a twice-weekly redeye to MCO? People want cards that enable them to actually go places. You need scale for that.
Fact is, the airline graveyard is full of small carriers who tried to offer a nice product without network/scale. You can offer me all the niceties in the world but if I can’t count on going where I want to go (direct) and when I want to go, I’ll choose the other guy.