Spirit Airlines anticipates being 'smaller' but 'better positioned' post COVID-19: CEO

Spirit Airlines CEO Ted Christie said he expects low fares "will be the hallmark of the post COVID-19 traveller", as low fare travel is historically "where the recovery comes first" (Seeking Alpha, 07-May-2020). "Demand will return and we believe that our product and cost structure will be key drivers of our performance during the recovery phase", he said, though adding Spirit "may be...smaller than we had planned before the current economic situation developed". However, Mr Christie said he believes the carrier "will emerge from this crisis even better positioned than we were previously", with the post COVID-19 environment to provide "plenty of new market opportunities to support our growth once demand begins to recover, including perhaps some opportunities in constrained markets that didn't exist before".