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International Spirit Fills This Airline

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By TED JACKOVICS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 5, 2007

TAMPA - Spirit Airlines flew its first rebranded Airbus A319 into Tampa International Airport on Wednesday morning, arriving four minutes ahead of schedule from Detroit.

The early arrival might be news elsewhere, but Spirit's four daily local flights that serve Fort Lauderdale, Detroit and Atlantic City, N.J., arrive and take off on time here unless thunderstorms are plentiful, said Edward Garduno, Spirit's Tampa station manager.

The new livery, a white airliner with a splashy red, green, yellow and blue 'S' tail logo, gradually will replace the metallic finish and checkerboard gradient tail design on Spirit's fleet of 35 Airbus A319s and A321s. That's noteworthy as part of cost-saving and rebranding effort that will include new employee uniforms, airport signage and an updated Web site.

The big picture, however, involves the story of Spirit's ongoing transformation from a small, domestic, low-cost carrier to a midsized airline with an increasing Caribbean and Latin American focus, which could benefit the Tampa Bay area.

The privately held, Miramar-based airline is considering Tampa International Airport among airports in Florida and other states for up to three new gateways for international destinations to be announced in early 2008.

That's in line with Spirit's plans to double the size of its fleet by 2011. That should provide plenty more airliners to spread new traffic beyond its busy, crowded Fort Lauderdale base, which serves as a hub for its international flights.

Regardless of Spirit's long-term plans in Tampa, the airline this year will resume seasonal service to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and increase its nonstop domestic flights to the current destinations from four to six daily.

'Everyone thinks of Southwest, AirTran and JetBlue as low-cost carriers, so Spirit wants to be known as the 'ultra-low-fare carrier of the Americas,'' said Garduno, who enthusiastically greets passengers on each arriving and departing flight, which enables him to closely monitor on-time performance.

The new color scheme is intended to symbolize lively Caribbean and Latin American destinations, contrasted with the darker scheme selected when Spirit focused on boosting business travel among leisure fliers between Florida and the Northeast and Midwest, Spirit spokeswoman Alison Russell said.

The New Paint Even Weighs Less

There's more. The white paint and new trim will cost about $30,000 less each time aircraft are repainted compared with the current scheme and will take less time to apply, returning airliners to revenue service more quickly. Spirit does not disclose how much it costs to repaint its aircraft, a job it outsources to Mexico.

In addition, the new paint scheme weighs 800 pounds less to cover each aircraft than the current one, enabling fuel savings on the order of thousands of dollars for each plane over a year's flights.

'We cannot be an ultra-low-cost carrier if we don't consider everything,' Russell said about Spirit, which offers several fares from Tampa ranging from $69 to $89 (one-way). On Thursday, a sale for the Tampa-Fort Lauderdale route put the one-way fare at $29.

The same focus on ultra-low costs will pertain to Spirit's selection of U.S. gateway airports for adding international flights, Russell said.

Before the burst of the high-tech bubble, the recession and the terrorists' attacks that slowed travel this decade, airlines generally accepted that they would lose money when they started new routes, until passengers learned about them.

That strategy changed dramatically after airlines bled red ink quarter after quarter, and they responded in part by seeking incentives from airports to cover expected start-up losses.

'It is all about the costs, where we get the best incentives,' Russell said about the selection process for additional U.S. airports to serve Latin American and Caribbean destinations.

TIA Making A Pitch

Spirit has not set a date to announce its new gateways, and some negotiation is likely, she said. She declined to name airports that have submitted bids but said they extend beyond Florida and could include those that Spirit serves with domestic flights.

Tampa and Orlando likely are the top Florida candidates.

'We offer airlines one of the lowest costs per passenger of any airport, which we have budgeted for $4.26,' Tampa International director Louis Miller said. That includes everything: landing fees, terminal space rental, loading bridges, the baggage system.

'All the airline has to bring is its information technology system,' he said.

Miller said Tampa International also has offered waiving a $3 airline landing fee for international passengers, and could consider other issues, but the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority board would be the final arbiter on incentives the airport might offer.

No airport is disclosing its competitive offers to Spirit in detail, but Tampa International's $4.26 a passenger is as low as or lower than any major Florida airport and among the lowest nationwide.

Orlando International charges airlines $5 a passenger for the current fiscal year, and Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport charges airlines $4.36 a passenger.

Fort Lauderdale has provided incentives for flights to international and certain domestic destinations, including San Francisco, for six years, including about $1.4 million for Spirit and $2.3 million for other airlines, airport spokesman Greg Meyer said.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at tjackovics@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7817.

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