Las Vegas-San Diego flights widen Spirit’s schedule
For the third time this week, Spirit Airlines announced a new route out of McCarran International Airport that will pit it wing-to-wing against market leader Southwest.
On Thursday, Miramar, Fla.-based Spirit said it would start twice-daily flights to San Diego on Sept. 7, adding a third flight two weeks later. This followed the unveiling of new flights to Oakland, Calif., launching in August and to Portland, Ore., in September.
Just two years ago, Spirit had whittled its Las Vegas schedule to two flights a day and its passenger count had dropped by two-thirds, to 205,000. That grouped it among the smaller scheduled carriers at McCarran.
But starting late last year, Spirit began rebuilding its local schedule by adding Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas-Fort Worth as nonstop destinations. As a result, passenger totals have tripled during the first five months of this year, to 233,000 and already surpassed all of 2009.
In going to San Diego, Spirit will try to crack what has been a Southwest monopoly since US Airways pulled out in late 2009.
Except for a few days of promotional fares as low as $1 each way, Spirit will charge $49 on most flights and $99 on one peak day each week, either to Las Vegas on Fridays or returning on Sundays. Southern California residents make up the single largest source of visitors to the city.
However, Spirit is known for adding extra charges, such as a "passenger use fee" of $8 each way if the ticket is bought through the carrier's website.
By contrast, Southwest prices start at $49 for five days a week and $89 on Fridays and Sundays in either direction, and are largely all-inclusive. It has the heftier schedule of the two at a dozen daily flights.
In going to Oakland, Spirit will also try to crack an exclusive Southwest route, although other carriers go to nearby San Francisco. Southwest and Alaska Airlines are the current incumbents to Portland.
The three new destinations announced this week will add eight daily flights to McCarran's traffic, for a total of 485 a day.
Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at
toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.
