Strong demand boosts Spirit Airlines to revise 2008 plan and grow Fort Lauderdale even more

MIRAMAR– As a result of continued strong demand for Spirit’s unbundled low fare product, Spirit is revising its growth targets at its Fort Lauderdale gateway and plans to add over 40 percent more flights by this summer.

As the lowest cost carrier serving Fort Lauderdale, Spirit plans to operate more than 70 flights per day, an additional 20 frequencies compared to July 2007. Under the aggressive expansion initiative, Spirit will offer 10 new routes and will also add additional frequencies in existing markets.

Several new route announcements about these exciting new destinations are expected to be made over the next few weeks. By year end, Spirit’s routes will grow to 44 destinations from Fort Lauderdale, 28 of which will be to the Caribbean and Latin America.

Spirits expects these added frequencies to generate over 2,000 more passengers per day to Fort Lauderdale, creating millions of dollars in economic benefit to South Florida.

“We couldn’t be more excited about our position as not only the lowest cost carrier in South Florida, but also the largest in Fort Lauderdale,” said Barry Biffle, Spirit’s Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. “Our low costs are fueling our growth, which in turn is fueling the South Florida economy by adding over 400 jobs, generating over 2,000 more passengers to Fort Lauderdale per day, and creating millions of dollars in economic value for our local tourism.”

All of these additional frequencies will be made possible by increasing usage of off-peak times at Spirit’s Terminal 4, which will also provide a much more efficient operation.

To support this growth, Spirit also expects to add over 400 more jobs in South Florida, including airport staff, flight crew and other support positions. Potential employees can go to www.spiritair.com for job postings.

“Bottom line – we will grow Fort Lauderdale until we’re Blue in the face,” continued Biffle.