Spirit Airlines to Increase Flights from Fort Lauderdale by 40 Percent

Spirit Airlines plans a 40 percent increase in its flights out of its Fort Lauderdale gateway by this summer.

With the additional flights, the carrier will operate more than 70 flights per day, an increase of 20 more daily flights compared to July 2007. Under the expansion initiative, Spirit will offer 10 new routes and also will add frequencies in existing markets.

While the new routes have not been revealed yet, details are expected over the next few weeks. By year’s end, Spirit’s routes will grow to 44 destinations from Fort Lauderdale, 28 of which will be to the Caribbean and Latin America.

The additional frequencies will be made possible by increasing usage of off-peak times at Spirit’s Terminal 4 at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood Airport . To support this growth, Spirit also expects to add more than 400 additional jobs in South Florida, including airport staff, flight crews and other support positions.