Spirit Airlines A Message from our President & CEO, Ted Christie

Dear EmailTuna,
 

I’m Ted Christie, and I’m the new CEO of Spirit Airlines. Our previous CEO, Bob Fornaro, retired from his post at year-end, but continues to play a vital role on our Board of Directors. In the past Bob reached out to you directly, and I plan to continue his tradition of keeping you informed and sharing our continued investments in the Guest experience.
 

Over the past few years we’ve improved tremendously, and the world has noticed. I’m proud to share that we’ve recently been recognized as Air Transport World’s Value Airline of the Year!  This comes as no surprise to us, since we’ve been working incredibly hard to improve and deliver the best value in the sky. You may have even seen us ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, spotted our 4th place finishes in MONEY Magazine and Wall Street Journal’s annual rankings, or noticed our special Airbus A321 “Dumbo”-themed livery in collaboration with Disney.
 

We continue to outperform the industry in reliability too! According to DOT data, Spirit ranked in the top four for on-time performance in all of 2018, and number one at handling your bags... again! And, to date, we’re currently ranked number two in 2019 for reliability according to preliminary data!

From browsing for flights to landing on the tarmac, we are working hard to innovate your travel experience every day. We recently launched a new Spirit app with enhancements requested by our Guests! This version provides for check-in, boarding passes for Apple wallets, full booking capability, and the option to purchase add-ons like our Big Front Seat. We’ve also started to roll out an updated version of our website which includes a Guest-favorite feature: the deal finder. Choose a starting location and budget, and we’ll show you flights with the best value!

Our network is continuing to grow rapidly too! In the past few months we’ve announced brand-new service to eight cities:  Cali, Colombia; Jacksonville, Florida; Austin, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; Burbank, California; and Sacramento, California. And over 40 new routes will make it easier than ever to get where you want to go. Our Fit Fleet is growing as fast as our service. We add a brand-new plane to our all-Airbus fleet every single month! Our commitment to our fleet shows in our average aircraft age of just 5.6 years.

Spirit has always been an airline with lofty goals. When our founder, Ned Homfeld, launched our airline as a charter carrier, he knew we were destined for greatness. We are proud to embody his legacy, and his passion for success in our mission: Deliver the best value in the sky and be the most successful airline on Earth!

I fly Spirit nearly every week, and I like to leave our Big Front Seats available for our Guests. My favorite seat is in row three, so next time you travel see if you’re with me! I look forward to seeing you on a Spirit flight soon.
 

Ted