Cruise line prices Spirit out of market

CHESTER ROBARDS

Tribune Business Reporter
THE BAHAMAS Celebration ferry/cruiseline has priced Spirit Airlines out of the Grand Bahama travel market, offering fares that amount to even less than the airline's taxes on a ticket, a deputy director-general at the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation (MOTA) said yesterday.

The lost seats will be replaced by American Airlines and Bahamasair.

David Johnson, who is also in charge of airlift development, said the option to cruise to South Florida in four hours with a large number of free luggage pieces was the selling point for the Bahamas Celebration and the catalyst for the demise of Spirit's airlift into the island.

According to Mr Johnson, Spirit struggled on its Grand Bahama direct from Fort Lauderdale service in the two years it operated. It found the route, which was serviced by a jet, expensive to maintain.

"It was expensive to operate a jet on such a short run and the economics were not going to change," he said.

Spirit also rolled out a controversial deal that required travellers to pay for luggage put in overhead bin,s and it always required passengers to pay for checked luggage.

Mr Johnson said the market for Spirit's Nassau route has not foundered.

Now, American Airlines and Bahamasair have replenished the seats going into Grand Bahama from Florida and have added 200 more.

Mr Johnson also revealed that the Ministry is in talks with American to convince them to further increase their airlift into Grand Bahama, but it has not made a definitive decision on the matter. However, it has increased the frequency of flights into the island compared to 2009.

"They are doing reasonably well, and we were in discussions with them to increase further," said Mr Johnson.

Minister of Tourism, Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, said replacing Spirit Airlines with American Airlines also adds the benefit of global connections.

"We will have a much improved service," he said.

Spirit leaves Grand Bahama

Inderia Saunders ~ Guardian Business Reporter

Grand Bahama will lose service from a major airline this month when ultra low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines ends all routes to that island - a loss Tourism officials promise will be met or exceeded.

The Grand Bahama change doesn't mean that things are necessarily in the clear for Nassau, either, with Spirit pilots now threatening strike action next month if they aren't awarded new contracts.

The strike could significantly effect arrivals to the country, coming at the kickoff of the peak summer travel period.

It's a problem the nation's second city won't have to worry about, however, given Spirit's service as of June will be no more to Grand Bahama, said the island's Tourism General David Johnson.

He also confirmed that increasing competition from the water side played largely into the airline's decision.

"They have signaled the end of their service at the end of May after much discussion with us over a period of time," David Johnson told Guardian Business. "It was a Spirit decision...when the Grand Bahama market saw two large ships each with 1000 capacity or more that they don't have in Nassau, so Grand Bahama and residents in Florida have the option of taking a cruise and take everything with them and four hours later land in GB.

"And that's significant competition for airlines and Spirit's concern was that they were relying heavily on Bahamians and Floridians with a jet size [and] they underestimated the competition from the ship, particularly when Celebration entered the market. That has influenced their decision."

Johnson asserts, however, that already Bahamasair and American Airlines has already stepped into to take up where Spirit has left off. On a weekly basis, the low-cost carrier would wing somewhere around 280 seats into the island on a bi-weekly basis.

Johnson said the replacement airlines will usher an additional 260 seats into the island when the service continues. Ticket prices for the additional airlift are also expected to be near those that the departing carrier charge.

Spirit Airlines just recently announced it would move to implement a $45 charge for carry on bags starting August 1. It's unclear at this point just how many passengers a possible strike at Spirit will effect.