Spirit Airlines is one of the fastest growing airlines in the US. They are also notorious of their very low fares. The airline is America’s love-hate darling. Spirit has recently added quite a few routes to their network. The airline added flights from various of their focus cities and added Hartford as a destination. Well it seems that the airline is at it again.
Spirit Airlines Adds Pittsburgh Flights
Spirit has just announced flights to Pittsburgh. The airline will begin flying out of the Pennsylvania city beginning in this spring, and adding destinations over the summer. Some of the cities that will be linked to Pittsburgh are:
- Los Angeles
- Myrtle Beach
- Fort Lauderdale
- Dallas Ft Worth
- Las Vegas
- Orlando
- Houston
Most of these flights will operate daily. The airline will use a mix of Airbus aircraft on the routes. The famed airline has also recently changed its carry on baggage size, and now is on par with basic economy on its competitors. The airline was not incentivized to start the routes, given that the cities are already served by other airlines. This means that we should expect to see a reduction of prices on these routes as Spirit ups the competition.
Pittsburgh Expansion
Pittsburgh Airport has seen a renaissance of flights over the past few years. It has added service by international carriers such as WOW Air and Condor. These airlines fly to Iceland and Germany, respectively. The airport has also added flights with Allegiant to San Juan and Destin, Florida. The airport has gone from 37 destinations to 68 in two years. Most of these new flights are subsidized, however. The airport is still looking to add more flights to the West Coast, and make the SFO connection to a year round service.
Landing Thoughts
I am excited to see Pittsburgh rebound from their bad luck with airlines. The airport at one point was a US Airways hub, with flights throughout the US and across the Pond. The only legacy carrier that operates an international flight is Delta with seasonal service to Paris. The newest additions, both of Spirit and the other carriers, are giving the large airport a second lease on life, and one that will probably be more sustainable. I have visited Pittsburgh twice, and the airport is just massive compared to the services offered. I hope to see this continue to be remedied in the next few years.
What do you think? Should more airlines offer service to Pittsburgh? Should Spirit develop the airport into a regional focus city? Let us know!
All images from Wikimedia Commons unless otherwise noted.
