Spirit raises ticket prices $5 to $20 each way due to fuel costs
By Glenn Singer
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted April 21 2006
Miramar-based Spirit Airlines on Thursday increased most fares between $5 and $20 each way to help offset the rising price of fuel, which in the last month alone jumped 9 percent, a company official said.
By raising fares on its domestic flights, as well as those to the Bahamas, Mexico and the Caribbean, Spirit joins several other airlines that have raised fares to help offset higher fuel costs. Earlier this month, American, United, Continental and Delta boosted their prices as much as $50 each way, often for coach seats on high-demand flights and for first-class travel.
"We've held up raising ticket prices as much as anyone by competition. But it became clear fares had to increase," said Barry Biffle, the chief marketing officer.
Last month, low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines raised its four-year-old cap of $299 on one-way tickets to $309 — again because of the high price of fuel.
Major airlines actually have raised fares at least three times this year, according to Susan Donofrio, an analyst at Cathay Financial in New York.
They have been able to do so because of higher demand and in some cases a reduction in the number of flights.
For Spirit customers, this first fare increase has the least impact on the Fort Lauderdale-to-New York route, where the price increased only $5 each way. That might not fully make up the rise in fuel prices, but it will help, Biffle said.
"To go from Fort Lauderdale to La Guardia, it costs us about $40 a person just for fuel," he said. "And that's with our new, efficient Airbus 319s. The older MD-80s cost about $50 a person to make the trip."
Even with that cost, Spirit still offers some seats on that route for $79, Biffle said.
"We can't make too big a move in fares all at once because people are always comparing prices to the last time they flew," he said, adding that if the cost of fuel continues to rise, all airlines will have to re-evaluate their fares.