The business model Spirit describes itself as an “ultra-low-cost-carrier”, and specifically targets price conscious customers with low fares and a “no frills” flying experience. It is committed to being the lowest-cost airline in order to be recognized as the low fare leader in the markets they serve. Moreover, rather than offer its customers a bundled price that airlines
traditionally use to cover the cost of non-essential services beyond the base fare (e.g. checked luggage, advance seat assignments, refreshments, staff assistance at check-in), Spirit unbundles these options and gives its customers the option to pay for them individually. Spirit serves a segment of the market that most airlines cannot without losing money. Spirit had the market insight that many base fares are beyond the reach of a large customer segment who cannot afford frequent
air travel, and Spirit recognized that if it could sufficiently lower its cost base it could serve this segment without significant competition. Operating model Spirit’s operating model is tightly focused on maximizing asset utilization and non-ticket revenues per passenger to reduce base fares and stimulate passenger demand that most airlines cannot serve profitably. Maximize asset utilization: airlines are inherently high-fixed-cost businesses, and Spirit seeks to lower per unit costs with high asset turnover and by managing the variable costs associated with using those assets.
Incentivize lower-cost customer behavior: Spirit uses fees to incentivize customer behaviors that lowers its operating costs. Two examples:
Maximize ancillary revenues: Spirit stimulates passenger demand through low base fares while offering a suite of additional products and services designed to maximize non-ticket revenue per passenger including a subscription service to access flash sales of $9 fares, third-party travel insurance, advance seat selection, third-party travel packages, in-flight products, and on-board advertising. They have been remarkably successful, growing ancillary revenues per passenger from $5 in 2006 to $55 in 2014. Conclusion: The result of Spirit’s strategy has been an unrivaled low cost position among domestic carriers. It’s Cost Per Available Seat Mile (CASM), an important measure of unit costs in the airline industry, is 20% lower than Southwest’s, and 100% lower than United Airline’s. This has allowed them to dominate a market segment where they face little viable competition. 80% of Spirit’s passengers buy tickets priced in the lowest fare band where they have a clear cost advantage: Moreover, the success of their ancillary revenue strategy has allowed them to drive base fares well below the competition’s break-even cost. Spirit’s average total fares (inclusive of ancillary revenues and base fares) are $100 versus $125 for Southwest and $150 for JetBlue, despite higher pretax profit margins (21% for Spirit versus 16% and 12% for Southwest and JetBlue, respectively): It has accomplished this while delivering industry-leading operating margins of 13 – 20% every year since their IPO in May 2011. To be clear, Spirit is not a pleasant flying experience. But its business model and operating model give it an impressive competitive advantage that has allowed it to reach a customer base for whom flying was once out of reach, all while delivering profits rarely seen in the airline industry. Sources: http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ABEA-5PAQQ9/1137752048x0x860114/F80EC5FA-AC2D-4F79-9E21-E39AEBD89EEB/Baird_2015_Spirit_Airlines_FINAL.pdf http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ABEA-5PAQQ9/1137752048x0x846205/971A17A5-D3D8-4E78-90A3-0EE9193A4B35/Spirit_August_2015_FINAL.pdf https://www.spirit.com/Content/Documents/en-US/Spirit%20Airlines%20History.pdf http://ir.spirit.com/events.cfm http://marketrealist.com/2015/11/investors-introduction-spirit-airlines-pioneer/ |