Basil Ben Baldanza (born December 3, 1961) is an economist and was the chief executive officer and president of Spirit Airlines from 2005 to 2016, a period in which he led the transformation of the company into an ultra-low-cost carrier. (wikipedia)
Our January results met expectations. As we complete our transition from MD-80s to all-new Airbus aircraft, we are limiting some of our flying and managing our schedule to fly less than last year.
The airport has only six international gates, and at this point it is difficult for us to add any new destinations at the same departure times as our existing flights.
Most of the losses of the year are tied to the fact that we're still flying old airplanes and we're spending a lot of money to buy the new airplanes.
As we get toward the end of the decade, what people are going to start saying about Spirit is, not only do they have a great product with great airplanes with two-class service, and not only do they have great fares, but they don't constrain you to the 48 states.
We are delighted to add Scott to the Spirit family. State of the art technology is key to our current and future success. I'm confident that an information technology professional of Scott's stature will take Spirit to its next level.
With 25 percent of our destinations having started within the past 3 months, and 15 percent in February alone, I'm more than pleased with our results.
Eventually, a second runway at the airport needs to be developed. But we don't have a runway constraint at present. We don't have an airspace constraint. We simply need more international gates.
