A frontier Airlines plane near a Spirit Airlines plane at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood international airport on May 16, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty images
Airlines Frontier go after customers of Spirit Airlineswhose financial base has become so trembling in recent weeks that it has warned earlier this month that it could not survive another year without more money.
Frontier announced on Tuesday 20 routes that he planned to start this winter, many of which are in the main spiritual markets as its base at Fort Lauderdale International Airport in Florida. Frontier rides the mind on 35% of its capacity, more than any other airline, according to a note from Monday by the analyst of the airline of Deutsche Bank, Michael Linenberg.
Some of the new frontier roads from Fort Lauderdale include flights to Detroit, Houston, Chicago and Charlotte, in North Carolina. He also deploys Houston’s roads in New Orleans; San Pedro Sula, Honduras; and Guatemala City.
Frontier had tried and failed to merge with his rival from the budget airline several times since 2022.
“I’m not here to talk about M&A,” the CEO of Frontier Barry Biffle said on Tuesday in an interview with CNBC when asked if Frontier would buy Spirit. Biffle said he expects Frontier to take the majority of Spirit’s market share if the mind collapses.
The two carriers had trouble changing the tastes of customers for higher-end seats and trips abroad, an excess offer of internal capacities and labor costs and other higher costs. Spirit’s situation has become more disastrous, however, after having emerged from four months of protection against bankruptcy in March, faced with many of the same problems.
Ultra-lobic airlines are also disputed by greater competitors such as United Airlines,, American airline And Delta airlines Who have deployed their own basic economy tickets without frills, but also offer customers greater choices of destinations and other advantages on board such as snacks and drinks.
The equity prices of rival airlines increased after Spirit’s warning at the beginning of the month.
Biffle said the carrier wanted to become the country’s largest, low -budget airline and have deployed loyalty counterpart programs to enter more customers. Frontier’s ability was slightly smaller than that of Spirit in the second quarter, through the latter had reduced its flight by almost 24% compared to the previous year, while Frontier was down only 2%.
Spirit last week said that he had led to all $ 275 million in his revolver and although he reached a two -year extension on his credit cards processing agreement with US Bank NA, he agreed that he would retain up to $ 3 million a day of the carrier.
The airline lost $ 245.8 million in the second quarter. Frontier has lost $ 70 million.
Spirit looked for means to reduce costs, including leave and demotion of hundreds of drivers and the reduction of non -profitable routes. Hundreds of on -board agents are unpaid.
Spirit’s CEO Davis Davis said in a service note on August 12 after his “disturbing gernom” warning that “the team and I are convinced that we can build a spirit that will continue to provide consumers with the unequaled value they have expected for many years.”
The carrier concluded an agreement with the obligations holders who agreed to convert debt into equity in its bankruptcy in chapter 11, but it has not reduced other costs such as the renegitation of aircraft leases. The rental companies have contacted rivals in recent weeks to assess whether the competitors would take one of the Airbus aircraft in mind, according to people familiar with the problem, who asked to speak anonymously because the talks were deprived.
– CNBC Phil Lebeau contributed to this report.