Tag Archives: A319-132

US Airways and Finnair launch their codeshare agreement

US Airways (Phoenix and Dallas/Fort Worth) yesterday (July 16) launched its codeshare agreement with trans-Atlantic joint business partner Finnair (Helsinki), further enhancing its relationship with the fellow oneworld alliance member and providing customers increased access to Helsinki and beyond. Customers can now book tickets for codeshare flights for travel beginning July 24.

Through the codeshare, customers can now book Finnair flights from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) to Helsinki Airport (HEL) and beyond. The codeshare will extend to additional Finnair flights from Helsinki, providing customers more access to 11 destinations including Brussels, Oslo, Stockholm and Zurich.

Finnair customers will now have more options when traveling from Europe to the United States on US Airways-operated flights to Charlotte and Philadelphia. Customers can also book travel on US Airways-operated flights beyond JFK to Phoenix.

As part of this relationship, Dividend Miles and Finnair Plus frequent flyer programs are able to earn and redeem miles on flights operated by the other carrier, providing another valuable benefit to customers. In addition, customers will now be able to earn miles when traveling on codeshare flights operated by the other airline.

US Airways joined the Atlantic joint business with British Airways, Iberia and Finnair as an affiliate member earlier this year, and will remain as such until it fully integrates with American Airlines.

Top Copyright Photo: Eddie Maloney/AirlinersGallery.com. US Airways’ Airbus A319-132 N822AW (msn 1410) in the special Nevada “Battle Born” state livery lands in Las Vegas.

US Airways:

Finnair:

Bottom Copyright Photo: Jay Selman/AirlinersGallery.com. Finnair’s Airbus A330-302 OH-LTT (msn 1088) completes its final approach to the runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).

Lufthansa Group reports a lower first quarter operating loss of $341 million

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (Lufthansa Group) (Lufthansa) (Frankfurt) achieved a further increase in its operating result for the first quarter of 2014, thanks to continued progress with its Score results-enhancement program. In what is traditionally the weakest quarter of the year, the company posted an operating result of EUR -245 million ($341 million), a EUR 114 million ($158.7 million) or 31.8% improvement on the same period last year. Adjusted for non-recurring items, such as the cost for the accelerated installation of new Lufthansa Business Class seats, which accounted for some EUR 55 million in this period alone, the first-quarter operating result was improved by EUR 105 million to EUR -190 million ($264.5 million). The improved quarterly operating result can be largely attributed to an increase in profits at Lufthansa Technik and the positive impact of the revised depreciation policy for aircraft and spare engines which was adopted at the beginning of the year. In addition, the Lufthansa Group also improved its cost structures in the passenger segment.

Adjusted to eliminate fuel-price and currency factors, first-quarter unit costs for the passenger business segment were a 3.7% improvement on their prior-year level. The Group has set itself the goal of reducing such costs by 4% for 2014 as a whole by implementing various Score-related actions. Total revenue for the quarter amounted to EUR 6.5 billion, a 2.5% decline on the prior-year period. Lower traffic revenues were generated for the period, not least as a result of adverse currency movements. The revenue result was achieved with a 1.2% reduction in total flights operated, owing mainly to fleet modernizations and the use of larger aircraft. The net result for the period amounted to EUR -252 million, a substantial EUR 206 million or 45.0% improvement on the first quarter of 2013.

“This is a sound first-quarter performance and a slight improvement in our results for the period in a difficult market environment,” says Simone Menne, CFO and Member of the Executive Board at Deutsche Lufthansa AG. “We have improved our cost structures, and have taken various actions to enhance the quality of our revenues. And we will continue with our consistent efforts to further raise our efficiency.”

The Lufthansa Group has further confirmed its previous expectation of posting an operating profit of between EUR 1.3 and 1.5 billion for 2014 as a whole. The Group also remains confident of reporting a 2014 operating result adjusted for non-recurring items of between EUR 1.7 and 1.9 billion. The projections remain unchanged despite the Verdi strikes at German airports in March and the three-day strike at Lufthansa, Germanwings and Lufthansa Cargo by the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots’ union in April, which reduced Group earnings by over EUR 70 million.

“Our advance passenger bookings saw sizeable declines during the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots’ strike,” Menne continues. “And, with the competition we face on our European network and the strong pricing pressures on our North American routes, we haven’t yet been able to raise them again. So, despite the currently tense market environment, we are doing our utmost to recoup these earnings losses in our ongoing business.” Some assistance should be provided here by the fall in fuel prices: full-year estimates for this cost item are now lower following the first-quarter results than they were in March.

The Group’s Passenger Airlines business segment reported an operating result for the quarter of EUR -332 million, a EUR 31 million improvement on the same period last year. The progress here was partially due to the revised Group depreciation policy, whose lower costs added EUR 86 million to the quarterly result. At the same time, the decline in revenue per available seat-kilometre was offset by cost economies, which were reflected in a clear reduction in cost per available seat-kilometre. Among the Group’s member airlines, Lufthansa and Germanwings posted a quarterly operating result of EUR -286 million (a EUR 6 million year-on-year improvement), Swiss International Air Lines (Zurich) achieved an operating profit of EUR 6 million (up EUR 22 million) and Austrian Airlines (Vienna) posted an operating result of EUR -54 million (a EUR 2 million improvement on the prior-year period).

Lufthansa Technik made the most positive contribution to the Lufthansa Group’s first-quarter results, with an operating profit for the period of EUR 97 million, a EUR 16 million improvement on January-to-March 2013. The Group’s IT Services segment raised its first-quarter operating result by EUR 2 million to EUR 5 million. LSG SkyChefs reported a first-quarter operating result of EUR -4 million, a EUR 7 million year-on-year decline which was in part attributable to adverse currency movements. And with rigorous cost discipline in a still-tough market environment, Lufthansa Cargo achieved a solid operating profit of EUR 21 million, which compares to EUR 28 million for the prior-year period.

The first quarter of 2014 in figures

Total revenue for the first three months of 2014 amounted to EUR 6.5 billion, a 2.5% decline on the same period last year. Total operating income also declined 2.5%, to EUR 7.0 billion. At the same time, total first-quarter operating expenditure was reduced 6.0% to EUR 7.2 billion. Fuel costs for the quarter declined by EUR 157 million or 9.4% to EUR 1.5 billion. The figure includes a EUR 20 million loss from fuel price hedging activities. Fees and charges were 0.8% below their prior-year level, owing in particular to the lower flight volumes.

The Lufthansa Group achieved an operating result of EUR -245 million for the first quarter of 2014, a period that is traditionally the weakest of the year. The net result for the quarter amounted to EUR -252 million, a substantial EUR 206 million improvement on the first three months of 2013. First-quarter earnings per share rose from the EUR -1.00 of 2013 to EUR -0.55.

The Lufthansa Group increased its investments in modernizing and maintaining its aircraft fleet to EUR 755 million in the first-quarter period. All in all, the Group invested EUR 859 million, some EUR 141 million more than in the same period last year. Cash flow from operating activities totalled EUR 855 million, while free cash flow (operating cash flow less net capital expenditure) amounted to EUR 195 million. Net debt stood at EUR 1.6 billion, down EUR 61 million year-on-year. The balance sheet equity ratio as calculated in accordance with the new IAS 19 capitalization principles amounted to 17.9%, up 2.5 percentage points from the first quarter of 2013.

Top Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A340-642X D-AIHV (msn 897) of Lufthansa completes its final approach to the runway at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Lufthansa:

Germanwings:

Bottom Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. The Lufthansa Group continues to shift more non-hub European flying to the lower-cost Germanwings. Airbus A319-132 D-AGWU (msn 5457) lands at EuroAirport.

Spirit Airlines’ adjusted first quarter net income increases 15.4% to $37.8 million

Spirit Airlines, Inc. (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) today reported first quarter 2014 financial results.

Adjusted net income for the first quarter 2014 increased 15.4 percent to $37.8 million ($0.52 per diluted share) compared to $32.8 million ($0.45 per diluted share) for the first quarter 20131. GAAP net income for the first quarter 2014 was $37.7 million ($0.51 per diluted share) compared to $30.6 million ($0.42 per diluted share) in the first quarter 2013.

For the first quarter 2014, Spirit achieved an adjusted pre-tax margin of 13.7 percent compared to 14.4 percent over the same period in 20131. On a GAAP basis, pre-tax margin for the first quarter 2014 was 13.7 percent compared to 13.4 percent in the first quarter 2013.

Spirit ended the first quarter 2014 with $544.0 million in unrestricted cash.

Spirit’s return on invested capital (before taxes and excluding special items) for the twelve months ended March 31, 2014 was 31.2 percent. See “Calculation for Return on Invested Capital” table below for more details.

“During the first quarter, our team did a great job serving our customers while overcoming the challenges caused by numerous severe winter storms and managing to the new crew duty and rest rules. Our solid operational and financial performance in the first quarter is a great start to the year and provides a firm foundation as we grow our business and bring our low fares to more people in more places,” said Ben Baldanza, Spirit’s Chief Executive Officer.

Revenue Performance

For the first quarter 2014, Spirit’s total operating revenue was $438.0 million, an increase of 18.2 percent compared to the first quarter 2013. The increase was primarily driven by our growth in flight volume. In the first quarter 2014, Spirit had 256 weather-related flight cancellations compared to 59 in the first quarter 2013, which negatively impacted revenue for the quarter.

Total revenue per available seat mile (“RASM”) for the first quarter 2014 was 11.57 cents, a decrease of 2.4 percent compared to the first quarter 2013. Average stage length for the first quarter 2014 increased 6.3 percent year over year, contributing an estimated 3.0 percentage point decline in RASM. In the first quarter 2014, RASM was further impacted by an estimated 1.5 percentage points due to the calendar shift of Easter occurring in April this year compared to in March last year.

Passenger flight segment (“PFS”) volume for the first quarter 2014 grew 17.9 percent year over year, and the Company’s load factor for the first quarter 2014 increased 1.8 points year over year. Total revenue per PFS for the first quarter 2014 increased 0.3 percent year over year to $134.20.

Cost Performance

Total operating expenses for the first quarter 2014 increased 17.9 percent year over year to $378.0 million on a capacity increase of 21.0 percent.

Spirit reported first quarter 2014 cost per available seat mile excluding special items and fuel (“Adjusted CASM ex-fuel”) of 6.06 cents, an increase of 0.3 percent compared to the same period last year. An increased number of scheduled maintenance events resulted in higher depreciation and amortization expense and higher maintenance, material and repairs expense per ASM. These expenses were partially offset by improved operational reliability, resulting in lower passenger re-accommodation expense (recorded within Other operating expense) per ASM. The Company also benefited from lower aircraft rent per ASM.

Selected Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Items

As of March 31, 2014, Spirit had $544.0 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, no restricted cash, no debt on its balance sheet, and total shareholders’ equity of $809.4 million.

In the first quarter 2014, Spirit incurred capital expenditures of $4.1 million, paid $73.2 million in pre-delivery deposits for future deliveries of aircraft, net of refunds, and recorded an increase of $14.7 million in maintenance deposits, net of reimbursements.

Fleet

In the first quarter 2014, Spirit took delivery of two new A320 aircraft, ending the quarter with 56 aircraft in its fleet. During the quarter, the Company signed an amendment to its aircraft purchase agreement with Airbus; changes include the conversion of five (5) A320 ceo aircraft to A321 ceo aircraft, the conversion of five (5) A320 neo aircraft to A321 neo aircraft, the acceleration of one (1) A321 ceo aircraft from 2016 to 2015, and the deferral of two (2) A320 ceo aircraft from 2017 to 2018.

First Quarter 2014 and Other Current Highlights

• Added/announced new service between (service start date):

– Minneapolis-St. Paul and Houston (5/1/14)2
– Minneapolis-St. Paul and Baltimore/Washington (5/1/14)2
– Chicago O’Hare and Oakland/San Francisco (5/1/14)
– Minneapolis-St. Paul and Detroit (5/22/14)2
– Chicago O’Hare and Baltimore/Washington (5/22/14)2
– Chicago O’Hare and Portland, OR (5/22/14)2
– Fort Lauderdale and New Orleans (8/1/14)
– Houston and New Orleans (8/1/14)
– Houston and Atlanta (8/1/14)
– Kansas City and Chicago (8/7/14)
– Kansas City and Dallas/Fort Worth (8/7/14)
– Kansas City and Detroit (8/7/14)
– Kansas City and Las Vegas (8/7/14)
– Kansas City and Houston (8/8/14)
– Fort Lauderdale and Houston (9/3/14)
– Houston and San Diego (9/3/14)

• Maintained its commitment to offer low fares to its valued customers; average ticket revenue per passenger flight segment for the first quarter 2014 was $77.79 with total revenue per passenger flight segment of $134.20.

Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-132 N506NK (msn 2490) departs the runway at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL).

Spirit Airlines:

SEAir (Tigerair Philippines) to change its name to Go Air, Inc.

SEAir-South East Asian Airlines (Tigerair Philippines) (Manila) has been approved by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to change its corporate name to Go Air, Inc. The SEAir name is being returned to the original owner according to the Business Mirror.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Cebu Pacific Air (Manila) acquired the low-fare airline from Tigerair and a decision is pending on the future operating name. The Tigerair brand is likely to be discontinued in the Philippines.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. The Tiger stripes will soon be gone from SEAir aircraft. Airbus A319-132 RP-C4319 (msn 3757) arrives in Bangkok.

SEAir:

Avianca to start nonstop Cartagena-New York service on July 17

Avianca (Colombia) (Bogota) will launch a new route from Cartagena nonstop to New York (JFK) on July 17. The new route will be operated three days a week with Airbus A319s per Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A3219-132 N690AV (msn 5944) with Sharklets departs from Tenerife (Sur) on its delivery flight.

Avianca (Colombia):

Adria Airways transitions to a no frills carrier for the summer season

Adria Airways (Ljubljiana) is in transition. In order to stem losses, the carrier has started to transition from a full service airline to a hybrid “no frills” carrier according to Balkans.com. Effective April 22, all economy passengers will have the option to buy food on board. The airline is also adding additional seats on its aircraft.

The flag carrier is still on target to be sold by the end of year. In the meantime under its new business plan, the airline will implement its summer timetable on March 30, 2014 with new service between Tirana and Frankfurt (four flights a week) and new service between Munich and the Polish city of Lodz (six days a week). Here are the highlights of the summer schedule:

Adria will operate a total of 181 scheduled weekly flights: 161 of them from Ljubljana to 20 destinations, 10 from Pristina to Munich and Frankfurt, six from Munich to Lodz and four from Tirana to Frankfurt.

Adria’s summer timetable for 2014 includes flights from Ljubljana to Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Istanbul, London, Manchester, Moscow, Munich, Paris, Podgorica, Prague, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje, Split, Tirana, Vienna, Warsaw and Zurich.

Two new features of the summer timetable are the service between Tirana and Frankfurt (four flights a week) and the service between Munich and the Polish city of Lodz (six days a week).

During the summer season, charter flights operated by Adria in conjunction with travel agents connect Ljubljana with numerous holiday destinations, above all in the Mediterranean. Adria will fly weekly from Ljubljana to the following destinations in Greece: Heraklion, Thessaloniki, Rhodes, Kos, Samos, Santorini, Karpathos, Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Skiathos, Lesbos and Lefkada/Preveza. There will also be flights to Palma de Mallorca in Spain, Antalya in Turkey and Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada in Egypt. This summer Adria Airways is again planning charter flights from Trieste to the Greek islands.

In conjunction with the other members of the Star Alliance, Adria Airways offers an excellent range of competitively priced connections throughout the world. The Star Alliance operates 21,900 flights a day to 1,328 airports in 195 countries.

Read the full article: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. For now, Adria Airways is retaining its two Airbus A319s but the seating will be increased from 135 to 144 for the summer season. Airbus A319-132 S5-AAR (msn 4301) touches down at EuroAirport serving Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg.

Adria Airways:

SAS Group reduces its quarterly loss to $17.6 million

SAS Group (Scandinavian Airlines-SAS) (Stockholm) has reported a net loss of SEK 112 million ($17.6 million) for the quarter ending on January 31, 2014.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Rolf Wallner/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-132 OY-KBO (msn 2850) taxies at Zurich in the 1952 retrojet livery.

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS:

Spirit Airlines to drop the short-lived DFW-Latrobe, Pennsylvania route on April 3

Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) on April 3 will drop the short-lived Dallas/Fort Worth-Latrobe, Pennsylvania route per Airline Route. The route was operated three days a week and probably did not generate enough traffic to maintain the route.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Unlike other carriers, Spirit Airlines has been recently removing its spiritair.com sub-titles from its aircraft. Airbus A319-132 N515NK (msn 2698) completes its final approach to the runway at Los Angeles International Airport minus the URL address.

Spirit Airlines:

Spirit Airlines beats estimates with a 4Q net profit of $41.0 million and $177.5 million for 2013

Spirit Airlines, Inc. (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) today reported fourth quarter and full year 2013 financial results.

Adjusted net income for the fourth quarter 2013 increased 109.9 percent to $41.0 million ($0.56 per diluted share) compared to $19.5 million ($0.27 per diluted share) for the fourth quarter 2012¹. GAAP net income for the fourth quarter 2013 was $43.2 million ($0.59 per diluted share) compared to $19.6 million ($0.27 per diluted share) in the fourth quarter 2012.
Adjusted net income for the full year 2013 increased 71.0 percent to $177.5 million ($2.43 per diluted share) compared to $103.8 million ($1.43 per diluted share) for the full year 2012¹. GAAP net income for the full year 2013 was $176.9 million ($2.42 per diluted share) compared to $108.5 million ($1.49 per diluted share) for the full year 2012.
For the fourth quarter 2013, Spirit achieved an adjusted pre-tax margin of 15.4 percent, an improvement of 5.7 percentage points over the same period in 2012¹. On a GAAP basis, pre-tax margin for the fourth quarter 2013 was 16.2 percent, compared to 9.7 percent in the fourth quarter 2012. For the full year 2013, Spirit’s adjusted pre-tax margin was 17.1 percent, compared to 12.7 percent in 2012¹. Pre-tax margin on a GAAP basis for the full year 2013 was 17.1 percent, compared to 13.2 percent in 2012.
Spirit ended 2013 with $530.6 million in unrestricted cash.
Spirit’s return on invested capital (before taxes and excluding special items) for the twelve months ended December 31, 2013 was 31.8 percent. See “Calculation for Return on Invested Capital” table below for more details.

“For the full year 2013, we delivered record profitability and return as demand for our low-cost, ultra-low fare model remained very high. These strong financial results reflect our vigilance on maintaining our cost discipline and low fare strategy while executing on our growth plan and delivering high returns for our shareholders,” said Ben Baldanza, Spirit’s Chief Executive Officer. “I thank all our team members who helped us achieve these results.”

Revenue Performance

For the fourth quarter 2013, Spirit’s total operating revenue was $420.0 million, an increase of 27.9 percent compared to the fourth quarter 2012. The year-over-year increase was driven by continued strong demand and our growth in capacity. The increase was also partly attributable to the negative revenue impact in the fourth quarter 2012 related to Hurricane Sandy.

Total revenue per available seat mile (“RASM”) for the fourth quarter 2013 was 11.43 cents, an increase of 3.0 percent compared to the fourth quarter 2012 as a result of both higher average passenger yields and load factors.

Passenger flight segment (“PFS”) volume for the fourth quarter 2013 grew 19.4 percent year over year. Average revenue per PFS for the fourth quarter 2013 increased 7.1 percent year over year to $132.86 primarily driven by an increase in ticket revenue per PFS.

For the full year 2013, total operating revenue increased 25.5 percent to $1,654.4 million compared to the full year 2012 and total RASM increased 2.8 percent to 11.94 cents.

Cost Performance

Total operating expenses for the fourth quarter 2013 increased 18.8 percent year over year to $351.9 million on a capacity increase of 24.3 percent.

Spirit reported fourth quarter 2013 cost per available seat mile excluding special items and fuel (“Adjusted CASM ex-fuel”) of 5.78 cents, a decrease of 2.5 percent compared to the same period last year. Better operational performance during the fourth quarter 2013 compared to fourth quarter 2012 helped to drive lower wage expense and lower passenger re-accommodation expense. These decreases were partially offset by higher depreciation and amortization expense related to the amortization of an increased number of heavy maintenance events.

In its Investor Update dated January 15, 2014, the Company estimated that it would record $8 million of expense related to the repair and damage of the engine and aircraft associated with the engine failure experienced in October 2013. The Company now believes it will receive insurance proceeds covering all related expenses in excess of a $750,000 deductible, which was expensed in the fourth quarter.

Total operating expense for the full year 2013 was $1,372.1 million, up 19.9 percent year over year driven primarily by fuel and other expenses associated with increased flight volume. Adjusted CASM ex-fuel for the full year 2013 decreased 1.5 percent year over year to 5.91 cents.

Selected Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Items

As of December 31, 2013, Spirit had $530.6 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, no restricted cash, no debt on its balance sheet, and total shareholders’ equity of $769.1 million.

For the full year 2013, Spirit incurred capital expenditures of $19.8 million. The Company paid $70.3 million in pre-delivery deposits for future deliveries of aircraft, net of refunds, and recorded an increase of $24.1 million in maintenance deposits, net of reimbursements.

Fleet

In the fourth quarter 2013, Spirit took delivery of three new A320 aircraft, ending the year with 54 aircraft in its fleet.

Full Year 2013 and Other Current Highlights

Added/announced new service between (service start date):

– Dallas/Fort Worth and New Orleans (1/24/13)	– Houston and Denver (6/13/13)
– Houston and Orlando (2/14/13)	– Houston and Detroit (6/13/13)
– Detroit and Denver (2/14/13)	– Phoenix Sky Harbor and Dallas/Fort Worth (10/24/13)
– Dallas/Fort Worth and Minneapolis-St. Paul (4/4/13)	– Phoenix Sky Harbor and Chicago/O’Hare (11/7/13)²
– Dallas/Fort Worth and Philadelphia (4/5/13)	– Phoenix Sky Harbor and Denver (11/7/13)
– Houston and Los Angeles (4/25/13)	– Minneapolis-St. Paul and Los Angeles (11/7/13)
– Dallas/Fort Worth and Oakland/	– Minneapolis-St. Paul and Orlando (11/7/13)²
San Francisco (4/25/13)	– Minneapolis-St. Paul and Phoenix (11/7/13)²
– Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles (4/25/13)	– Minneapolis-St. Paul and Tampa (11/7/13)²
– Dallas/Fort Worth and Cancun, Mexico (4/25/13)	– Minneapolis-St. Paul and Houston (5/1/14)²
– Baltimore/Washington and Las Vegas (4/25/13)	– Minneapolis-St. Paul and Baltimore/
– Baltimore/Washington and Myrtle Beach (4/25/13)²	Washington (5/1/14)²
– Philadelphia and Myrtle Beach (4/25/13)²	– Chicago O’Hare and Oakland/San Francisco (5/1/14)
– Philadelphia and Las Vegas (4/25/13)	– Minneapolis-St. Paul and Detroit (5/22/14)²
– Minneapolis-St. Paul and Denver (4/25/13)²	– Chicago O’Hare and Baltimore/Washington (5/22/14)²
– Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Cabos, Mexico (6/13/13)	– Chicago O’Hare and Portland, OR (5/22/14)²
– Dallas/Fort Worth and Latrobe/Pittsburgh (6/14/13)

Launched service to 25 new markets in 2013.
Ratified a new five-year contract with its dispatchers which are represented by the Transport Workers Union.
Elected H. McIntyre (Mac) Gardner as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Ordered an additional 20 new A321 aircraft, converted 10 existing A320 orders to A321 orders, and converted 5 A321ceo orders to A321neo orders. These aircraft are scheduled to deliver between 2015 and 2018. The Company also advanced 4 A320 aircraft originally scheduled to deliver in 2015 to deliver in 2014, bringing its total planned aircraft deliveries in 2014 to 11.
Maintained its commitment to offer low fares to its valued customers (average ticket revenue per passenger flight segment for the full year 2013 was $79.43).

Additionally, Spirit Airlines on May 22 will introduce nonstop Minneapolis/St. Paul – Detroit service, offering one daily flight with Airbus A319 aircraft.

Copyright Photo: Jay Selman/AirlinersGallery.com. Still wearing the old 2004 black livery, Airbus A319-132 N523NK (man 2898) “Spirit of Tampa” prepares to land in Las Vegas. With the new color scheme, Spirit dropped the practice of naming its aircraft after cities. Instead it now offers a promotional package to generate income.

Spirit Airlines:

Spirit Airlines’ flight attendants vote down the latest contract offer

Spirit Airlines‘ (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) voted against a new tentative agreement.

The AFA issued this statement:

A majority of Flight Attendants at Spirit Airlines, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), today voted against a tentative agreement with management. Their strong vote makes it clear that Spirit Flight Attendants expect more for their outstanding contributions to the profitable airline.

“Spirit Flight Attendants have sent a loud and clear message that management’s offer fails to address our needs and does not reflect our true worth. We remain focused on our future. Our demands at the bargaining table are now formally supported by an overwhelming message from the front lines of our airline,” said Todd St. Pierre, AFA President at Spirit. “We expect a substantial return for our contributions to the success of Spirit Airlines. It is well past time for management to negotiate an agreement that can be ratified and meets the priorities identified by Spirit Flight Attendants.”

AFA will survey the more than 1,200 Flight Attendants to focus efforts on the issues that matter most to Spirit Flight Attendants. The National Mediation Board, which has been mediating between the parties since 2009, retains oversight of future negotiations.

Copyright Photo: Jay Selman/AirlinersGallery.com. Still painted in the old 2004 black livery, Airbus A319-132 N510NK (msn 2622) prepares to land in Las Vegas.

Spirit Airlines: