In the past two days, Spirit Airlines has launched several new routes, bringing its services to Chattanooga, Tennessee, for example, with the low-cost carrier launching flights from the state’s border city to Fort Lauderdale, Newark, and Orlando.

These are the airline’s latest routes and one of three new cities on its route map in 2025, which includes Columbia, South Carolina, a city it had served in 2008 and 2009.

For Spirit Airlines, the next year will be crucial. The airline not only went through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy process to restructure its debt, but has also faced headwinds in the US, with travelers increasingly moving to the premium segment, forcing the low-cost carrier to adapt to a new reality.

In addition, economic uncertainty, resulting in consumer confidence at its lowest since 2022, per the US Michigan Consumer Sentiment, also affected travel demand. Simple Flying explores Spirit Airlines’ past and current network, as well as its current financial reality.

Spirit Airlines’ New Services From Chattanooga

On June 4 and 5, Spirit Airlines launched three new routes from Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (CHA), to Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), and Orlando International Airport (MCO).

The three airports became its newest routes, with the airline saying that the trio of new connections provides the airport with nonstop and affordable flights to the three destinations.

Duncan Dee, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Spirit Airlines, who was recently hired alongside the carrier’s new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dave Davis, said that the new services create opportunities for Chattanoogans to discover exciting destinations and make new memories at an unparalleled value.

April Cameron, the President and CEO of the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport Authority, added that by partnering with Spirit Airlines, the airport made a significant step forward in expanding travel options for the region.

“These new nonstop routes open the door to high-value connections for our passengers and strengthen Chattanooga’s role as a gateway to and from the Southeast. We appreciate Spirit’s investment in our community and look forward to welcoming travelers from across these key destinations to the Scenic City.”

Unserved Routes Since 2018 And Other New Routes

According to data from the aviation analytics company Cirium’s Diio Mi airline planning tool, the only time that Chattanooga was connected to Fort Lauderdale was between December 2007 and December 2009, with Allegiant Air offering up to four weekly departures, mostly two weekly flights, on the route during the period.

Meanwhile, United Airlines flew between the Tennessee airport and Newark from September 2016 to September 2018, offering up to 14 weekly departures on the route.

Since October 2024, Delta Air Lines was the only airline to have offered flights from Chattanooga to New York, flying to New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA) up to six times per week on an Endeavor Air Mitsubishi (née Bombardier) CRJ900 aircraft.

Per Cirium’s Diio Mi, during the first six months of the year, compared to the corresponding period in 2024, Spirit Airlines’ overall departures from the US are down 19.5%, with the airline offering 18.7% fewer seats when comparing the two six-month periods.

Still, in addition to new services from Chattanooga, in the past few months, the airline also began flying from Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM), Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE), and will begin offering low-cost travel from Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport (SAV).

On October 10, 2024, Spirit Airlines began flying from Birmingham-Shuttlesworth to Fort Lauderdale, while on June 4, it launched services to Newark. On June 13, it will depart on its first-ever flight from the Alabama airport to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW).

Furthermore, following a 16-year hiatus, Spirit Airlines returned to Columbia, South Carolina, with three new flights from the airport to Fort Lauderdale, Newark, and Orlando. These began on June 5 (Newark, Orlando) and will take off for the first time on June 6 (Fort Lauderdale).

From August 14, Spirit Airlines will offer flights from Savannah/Hilton Head to Newark, expanding its network from the former to also include departures to Fort Lauderdale (October 6), Nashville International Airport (BNA), from October 9, and Detroit Metropolitan (October 10). Spirit Airlines, which began flying in 1990, had not served Savannah since at least 2000.

Florida-Focused Route network

Looking at the airline’s schedules for the first 10 months of 2025, since the airline has yet to file its schedules for November and beyond, its top two busiest airports are located in Florida, specifically Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.

In June, for example, Spirit Airlines scheduled 536 weekly departures from Fort Lauderdale and 419 weekly departures from Orlando.

The next busiest airports in terms of weekly departures from the US are Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), Detroit, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL).

Apart from Detroit and Atlanta, Spirit Airlines saw a decrease at three of its five busiest airports compared to June 2024. By far, the airline grew the most in Detroit, adding 73 weekly departures, with other airports, including Birmingham, Bradley International Airport (BDL), Chattanooga, Columbia, Raleigh–Durham International Airport (RDU), and Santa Ana John Wayne Airport (SNA), seeing between 16 and ten additional weekly flights year-on-year (YoY).

Seven other airports had fewer than ten additional weekly departures in June, while Spirit Airlines’ growth at three airports was flat YoY. These are displayed below.

However, it also reduced services from 46 airports YoY in June (displayed below). The deepest cuts have been made in Las Vegas and Fort Lauderdale, where Spirit Airlines slashed 182 and 149 weekly flights from its schedules from the two airports.

From Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Orlando, and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), the low-cost carrier removed 91, 83, and 79 weekly flights, respectively.

Overall, the airline will operate 1,360 fewer weekly flights YoY, a reduction of 23.5% compared to June 2024, resulting in 22.7% fewer weekly departing seats during the month.

Balancing Profitability And Network Cuts

In its Q1 financial report, which was published for the period when it was still in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it exited the process on March 12.

The airline detailed that one of the trends affecting its business was that after it decided to cut capacity in 2024, realigning its network to enhance operational reliability, focusing on markets where industry capacity and demand are more aligned, it was uncertain about its ability to drive profitability.

“The success of this strategy requires increasing our market share in targeted markets, which, in turn, should allow us to command a pricing premium and generate higher revenue per” available seat mile (ASM), it said.

In addition, problems related to the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan (GTF), also known as the PW1100G, which powers its Airbus A320neo/A321neo aircraft, will continue to affect its capacity.

The accelerated removals and inspections will continue until at least 2026, according to Spirit Airlines, with lower capacity potentially leading to “a significant adverse impact on our financial position and results of operations.”

In addition, Spirit Airlines warned that it has experienced increased volatility “in seasonality as well as a decrease in unit revenue and persistently higher fuel prices over the last few years, which have negatively affected revenue and costs,” as well as full-service airlines unbundling their fares and offering basic tickets that are similar to Spirit Airlines’ offering and pricing.

Still, the carrier concluded that after assessing the impact of the current pricing environment in the US on its liquidity requirements in the next 12 months, it evaluated that “it is probable the Company will have sufficient liquidity to meet its future cash needs with cash and cash equivalents, cash flows from operations, and management’s current plans.”

The latter includes its recently announced product enhancements, with the airline attempting to introduce more premium travel options.

Pre-bankruptcy Spirit Airlines ended Q1 with a net profit of $72.2 million, driven by reorganization gains of $421.4 million. At the same time, between March 13 and March 31, the post-bankruptcy airline posted a net loss of $10.9 million.

Compared to Q1 2024, the low-cost carrier had six more aircraft, yet utilization was 22.1% lower, with Spirit Airlines averaging 8.1 daily hours of flying per aircraft during the three-month period.

Overall departures fell by 18.2%, while capacity, measured in ASMs, was 19.8% lower. Average revenue per passenger was also lower, $115.47 versus $117.03, while average yields rose slightly from 11.63¢ to 11.77¢.

The airline’s cost per ASM (CASM) rose by 10.1% YoY to 12.02¢. The successor and predecessor companies’ revenues were $257 million and $755.3 million, respectively.

Meanwhile, the carrier accounted for the successor and predecessor expenses post and pre-March 12 as $259 million and $1 billion, respectively, showcasing a huge gap between revenues and operating costs.

Spirit Airlines delayed the publication of its Q1 results, detailing in a statement on May 12 that it was unable to file the quarterly report “without unreasonable effort or expense.”

According to the statement, its “emergence from bankruptcy on March 12, 2025 […] requires the Company to apply “fresh start” accounting to its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures, which requires the Company to establish a new successor reporting entity, separate its current reporting period between “predecessor” and “successor” period […].”