Spirit Airlines is making more changes to its route network.
The Miramar, Florida-based carrier is adding three new domestic routes, as first seen in Cirium Diio’s schedule and later confirmed by a carrier spokesperson.
Starting June 5, Spirit will add a new daily flight from Houston to Pittsburgh. Then, in early July, the airline will add daily service from Los Angeles to Seattle and Portland, Oregon.
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“Spirit is always looking for opportunities to introduce low fares and new routes that give Passengers high-value options to great destinations. We are looking forward to starting a daily non-stop service between Houston (IAH) and Pittsburgh (PIT) and connecting Los Angeles (LAX) to Portland (PDX) and Seattle (SEA) this summer,” John Kirby, vice president of network planning, said in a statement. statement shared with TPG.
However, it’s not all good news for Spirit’s roadmap. The airline will cancel flights between Houston and San Jose, Costa Rica, effective June 5, the airline confirmed to TPG. Spirit explained that the cuts are due to lower-than-expected demand on this route, which just launched in March.
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These adjustments come as ultra-low-cost carriers, including Spirit, are shifting capacity to reduce exposure to high-end leisure markets as Orlando has seen. Ticket prices dropped sharply with all the extra seats that have flooded the market since the coronavirus pandemic.
Spirit’s ways of making a living used to be those ways attractive to vacationers headed to cities like Orlando and Las Vegas, but now that those markets aren’t generating high enough yields, the carrier has had to looking for other routes that will yield better results.
Over the past few months, this has included enhance services in well-established marketsespecially those that are entrenched by a large transportation network like Delta Air Lines or United Airlines.
In this case, Spirit’s two new routes from Los Angeles are already served by American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Delta. United also flies between Los Angeles and Seattle and between Houston and Pittsburgh. In fact, all four carriers already operate major hubs in LA.
Meanwhile, this growth is also part of a larger expansion plan for Spirit’s external stations in Pittsburgh, Portland and Seattle. The airline will add about 60%, 205% and 60% more flights by July 2024 compared to last year, according to Cirium’s schedule.
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