Spirit’s latest route changes indicate increasing pressure from JetBlue

Spirit Airlines in 4Q2012 is planning to rework its schedule on some routes from its Fort Lauderdale base to the Caribbean through the elimination of flights to Nassau, Bahamas and transitioning service to Kingston, Jamaica to a seasonal offering. In both those markets Spirit has a relatively small offering in comparison to its competitors, which includes JetBlue, on both the routes. Those market exits follow an earlier decision by Spirit to end service from Dallas/Fort Worth to Boston in late 2012 as JetBlue recently made its debut in the market. Three markets certainly do not account for a trend, but it does seem that Spirit would prefer to expand where JetBlue does not operate, concluding it can better stimulate traffic in markets with a higher concentration of legacy competition.

Spirit has a limited presence in terms of flights and seats on offer from its Fort Lauderdale headquarters to Kingston and Nassau. Spirit offers three weekly flights to Kingston, which accounts for roughly 11% of the total 4091 approximate one-way weekly seats (02-Sep-2012 to 08-Sep-2012) on offer from Fort Lauderdale. Caribbean Airlines accounts for 53% of the seat share and JetBlue holds a 37% share.