Spirit Airlines is continuing to grow its route network. This time, the airline is adding more flying for the winter out of Atlantic City International Airport (ACY). Three new routes will start this winter to Cancun, Miami, and San Juan, giving the airport an expanded portfolio, including its first-ever international routes and expanding Spirit's network.

Spirit Airlines adds new flying out of Atlantic City

Spirit Airlines has announced it will be adding three new destinations out of Atlantic City this winter. The airline will start service to Cancun, Mexico (CUN), San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU), and Miami, Florida (MIA). Miami was previously announced as part of the carrier's extension into the Southern Florida airport.

Matt Klein, Executive Vice President and Chief Commerical Officer at Spirit Airlines, stated the following on the network expansion:

"We couldn't be more excited to announce our first flights from Atlantic City to the Caribbean and Mexico. We know people are ready to get out and travel, and nonstop flights to popular destinations make it easy to plan a quick getaway with plenty of sun and sand. It's been a pleasure working with government and airport leaders in Atlantic City to give our Guests more options than ever before."

Spirit's new routes out of Atlantic City. Rendering created at Great Circle Mapper

Flights to Cancun will start on October 29th, 2021. Flights will run four times per week. This will complement the three-times-per-week flights to San Juan (SJU) in Puerto Rico. Those flights will start on October 31st. Miami service will launch on October 6th.

Spirit's Atlantic City portfolio

Spirit Airlines already flies to seven destinations out of ACY:

  • Atlanta (ATL) with four flights per week
  • Fort Lauderdale (FLL) with up to three flights per day
  • Fort Myers (RSW) with daily flights
  • Myrtle Beach (MYR) with up to two flights per day
  • Orlando (MCO) with three flights per day
  • Tampa (TPA) with daily flights)
  • West Palm Beach (PBI) with four flights per week
Spirit
Spirit's full ACY route map after the launch of the new routes. Rendering created at Great Circle Mapper

Atlantic City may seem like a strange city for service. Spirit Airlines is actually the only major airline that flies into the airport. Many other airlines have also struggled with making service to the area work.

However, there is a different factor at play here. First and foremost, Atlantic City is a convenient airport for much of southern New Jersey. Philadelphia, Trenton, or Newark may be too inconvenient for large swaths of travelers, and Spirit has made the services work. In fact, this summer, Spirit's operations at ACY were 35% larger than the same time in 2019.

Looking at Spirit's services, most of them are geared toward travelers departing from Atlantic City. The carrier is not necessarily flying too many tourists into the city that is known boardwalks, beaches, and casinos. Nevertheless, the airline's ultra-low-cost model with unbundled fares certainly seems to be doing well in this primarily leisure-driven market with demand mostly to destinations in the southeastern United States. Now, Spirit is trying some new international and domestic flying.

Spirit A320neo
Spirit Airlines has succeeded in this market where almost no other airline has. However, it has concentrated its flying out of Atlantic City to the Southeastern United States and now Cancun and Puerto Rico. Other major Spirit cities like Los Angeles do not see service to Atlantic City. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

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Growing in key sun destinations

Cancun is one of the staple winter destinations for American travelers, and Spirit Airlines offers plenty of service from the Mexican airport. This includes Austin, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, Nashville, Orlando, Philadelphia, and soon also St. Louis and Milwaukee, among others.

Meanwhile, San Juan is getting some attention from Spirit. With plenty of culture, beaches, and activities all in the Caribbean and no need for a passport, Spirit Airlines is starting to beef up its position at the airport.

Spirit A320neo
Spirit Airlines has plenty of more room for growth in markets like Cancun, thanks to a sizable backlog of Airbus A320neos. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics shows that Spirit Airlines is the second-largest carrier at SJU. With a 20% market share, this is just behind JetBlue's 27% share, and Spirit certainly has plenty of room for growth in this market.

Spirit Airlines will take a total of 16 Airbus A320neo aircraft this year and has plans to take another 21 next year. This means a lot of growth from Spirit Airlines is coming, and the airline has certainly been on a spree of adding new points across its network.

Are you going to fly either of these new routes from Spirit Airlines? Let us know in the comments!