Originally Posted by
Thrust Hold
Spirit was profitable when they were smaller, because they focused their resources on passenger dense routes to vacation and leisure travel destinations. Aircraft utilization was significantly better prior to Ted's attempt to improve on-time performance by inflating block times and adding longer turn times. They strayed too far from their core operating principles.
Ted made it worse, but that all started under Fornaro. He was the one that lowered utilization to increase operational reliability. It made Spirit a better airline and a better place to work, but the profitability started to take a hit at that point and it's been downhill ever since. The Baldanza operating principles that made Spirit successful were also not sustainable in the long term.