Originally Posted by sailingfun

The concept of a ULCC depends on extremely cheap labor, minimum staffing and keeping maintenance costs at a minimum. It also appears to not scale well to large airlines. Low cost labor given the market now is a thing of the past unless you are really dipping into the bottom of the labor pool. Minimum staffing works well in a small operation but fails when the airline grows. Minimal maintenance works poorly as Spirit itself proved in the past but is functional with newer aircraft. Newer aircraft eventually however become older aircraft.
Spirit will do just fine long term but I suspect will fall far short of planned growth expectations. Resetting a airline with 100 planes is vastly different than resetting a airline with 500 aircraft. Given the realities of weather and other issues today Spirit will have to make a huge commitment to pay increases and Manning upgrades to sustain the growth rate. These increases will substantially up the cost structure. You can’t operate a Southwest fleet size with Spirit Manning and wages.

Originally Posted by korg128

New hiring still happening?

Originally Posted by Excargodog

I think the concept of ULCC is scalable - Ryanair has over 450 aircraft - and generally larger organizations find it easier to cope with operational challenges than smaller ones because of more resources to deal with the inevitable variances that occur. There are unique icircumstances - like having your ops center in hurricane alley - that may be an issue, but the fact is that everyone is having troubles restarting after a prolonged down period and almost everyone is having trouble finding workers. Given the COVID-caused disruptions, startup problems were inevitable. How quickly and effectively management finds solutions will determine the future success (or not) of NK.

Originally Posted by Judge Smails

Ahhh we've reached the armchair CEO/prognostication portion of the thread, where everyone reflects on their career choice, along with the absolute certainty that this place can no longer grow because of a weeklong meltdown. Better get those resumes out guys. 🙄

Originally Posted by FahQ2

Guess we should just close up shop, waive the white flag, and pray whoever acquires/merges with us forgives our trespasses.

Run now and join them so that you can be smug while the rest of us grovel on our knees as they staple us to the bottom of their seniority list.

I for one welcome our new overlords, as there are just so many shining examples of senior airline management out there today who just “get it”

Originally Posted by Moonbeam

You have to admit that 2,000 flight cancellations in a week has to be a world record. What CEO wouldn't want that on a resume?