Ninety-two flights sat on the tarmac at a U.S. airport for more than three hours.
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Here's how Baldanza summarizes the changes he sees in the industry: "Less competition, less capacity, fewer intervening marginal hubs." He means, for instance, that St. Louis, once a hub for airlines like TWA and American, is no longer a Western gateway. And good luck finding direct service to Omaha--or much of any service to Sioux Falls, S.D. Closing midsize hubs "created an industry that is financially more stable for the first time in a long, long time," Baldanza tells Time. It's good for consumers in the sense that a stable industry has value, but not so good in that there are fewer flights between midsize cities--and some smaller markets have lost service completely.
Baldanza has been working hard to provide more options and city pairs. In doing so, he is shaking up the industry. After taking charge of the then money-losing Spirit in 2006, Baldanza analyzed all the world's airlines and reached a conclusion. "The airlines that were perennially successful were really at the extremes," he says. "We realized they were either high touch like Emirates, or low cost like Ryanair."
He went low cost, unleashing a highly disciplined, highly discounted airline that is growing 20% annually with industry-leading profit margins. At Spirit, price is the product. The average base fare is $79, which gets you a seat. Everything else is extra. Spirit charges for checked bags as well as those in overhead bins. If you want an assigned seat, a middle, aisle, window or exit-row seat, that will cost you, based on a sliding scale. Would you like some water? Two bucks. The average passenger typically spends an extra $30 for add-ons, but the average total cost, at $110, still beats most of the major carriers.
Baldanza has his sights set on expansion. He figures there are at least 400 city pairs in the U.S., Caribbean and South American markets--or roughly any market where 200 people a day are flying. "We have more growth opportunities than we have airplanes on order," he says. In the airline industry, that's revolutionary, even if it's not exactly the kind of revolution that brings a smile to the face of a frequent flyer.
Newer Isn't Always Better
I am flying with a senior citizen out of Miami--that would be the jet, not a fellow passenger. I'm on one of those aging Boeing 757s that have served as industry workhorses for years. This one is owned by American and has all the hallmarks of its age: the upholstery is tired, and the first-class seats are old school, not much different from the coach seats (or so I tell myself as I head back to Row 17). The in-flight entertainment is hilariously outmoded--ancient screens suspended from the cabin ceiling with your choice of the same movie. A woman behind me remarks that she was expecting something "where you could change the channels."