Originally Posted by JulesWinfield

The market hasn't changed that much. We reached record travel demand this year. The issue lies solely on the management team, who just paid themselves bonuses, by the way.

Originally Posted by Margaritaville

Which iteration of National? I think Spirit is a much larger operation than National ever was and it's unlikely that would happen. They are certainly more of a household name and there's value in that.

Lots of hand wringing here but I think Spirit will survive. Maybe some of you were in grade school when Spirit was just a scrappy little player in DTW and ACY long before the LCC/ULCC moniker was invented that NWA tried to kill by standing up Champion Air as a direct competitor. There was also a lot of talk about Comair buying them but Delta squashed that by buying and eventually destroying us.

They'll launder the company through Ch. 11 maybe renegotiate the CBA and other contracts shed some unprofitable stuff and emerge a lean player. We've seen this all before.

Originally Posted by WHACKMASTER

Ahhhhh……a fellow 89-dayer?

Originally Posted by Margaritaville

Yes it's unfortunate but likely.

Sadly the once in a career record hiring window has closed to just a crack now so those who chose to stay are going to have to deal with that.

Originally Posted by JulesWinfield

So how do you explain the pre-COVID runup that Spirit had? They were growing and gaining marketshare and turning a proft. I have heard that the legacies slashed fares to drive ULCCs out, but I don't buy it. I looked at a few random AA flights, and the basic economy wasn't even available for the majority of flights I looked at. The one that was available was $145, while Spirit was $41. I looked up a United vs Spirit flight, and it was $150 vs $39 at Spirit. I am sure there are examples of this, but on the whole, I don't really see it.

The market hasn't changed that much. We reached record travel demand this year. The issue lies solely on the management team, who just paid themselves bonuses, by the way.

Originally Posted by rickair7777

I think the ULCC's had a market niche pre-covid. But post covid the legacies wised up and did basic fares. That combined with some bad luck like PW engines made things tough. I can't comment on NK management, but in general good management is almost the exception not the rule with airlines.

Did B6 do the merger to block F9 and then intentionally sabotage it? Seems far fetched but stating that you were going to dismantle the ULCC model and bases and cut off the poors wasn't really conducive to getting it through the administration and courts. Doesn't take a law degree to see that.

Originally Posted by JulesWinfield

AA introduced basic economy in 2017. I believe Delta did it around the same time, as they had it in 2018 when I was at Endeavor.

Originally Posted by JulesWinfield

The market hasn't changed that much. We reached record travel demand this year. The issue lies solely on the management team, who just paid themselves bonuses, by the way.

Originally Posted by BiminiBendo

There is an article in "Promarket" called "refuting the myths Defending the JetBlue Spirit merger". I would suggest that anyone harping on about the current administration go and read that. You might learn something. Is North Carolina considered a red state? If so, why would they also join the DOJ lawsuit, if it was a Democrat conspiracy? The argument had a basis in the law. It's over!

Now, some thoughts:

Spirit has $7B of debt, not $3B as someone wrote earlier in here.
Lots of that debt is coming up for refinancing in the coming years. We have a CCC credit rating. Google what that rating gets you.
We all want a White Knight to come in and rescue the business. That's wishful thinking and is unlikely to happen - it's just numbers!
Ed Bastion, among others in the industry, has recently suggested that there is over capacity and that's why they missed on Q2 earnings (still made money though). If this is true, do they or any other airline need Spirit?
TC hasn't told us the truth since he got here. Why would you place trust in him now?
The VP of Transformation has never done this before, ever! Do you think he really knows what he's doing?
I wish Spirit would succeed, but there are smarter, more powerful business forces than us actively working on its demise!
Do your homework, open your eyes. We are likely well into a period of decline and it's unlikely to end well.

Good luck to us all!

Originally Posted by Lakeaffect

The author (William J McGee) is extremely biased, he’s a heavy proponent for anti-trust regulations. Seen him talk before, he thinks all mergers are bad, all big business is bad, and all airlines are bad. If that’s your view, then you’ll enjoy his opinions on things.