Akron-Canton Airport has spirit — Spirit Airlines, that is.
Mark Kopczak, the vice president of network planning for Spirit Airlines, announced the low-cost carrier’s arrival during a news conference Tuesday morning at the airport along with several elated airport executives and community officials.
Starting Nov. 10, the airline will provide nonstop daily flights from Akron-Canton to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando in Florida. It will also offer nonstop flights seasonally to Tampa and Fort Myers several times a week.
Then, starting April 27, the airline will offer seasonal flights to Myrtle Beach, S.C., daily.
“We at the Akron-Canton Airport have always been optimistic that we could rebuild our passenger traffic despite some headwinds that we’ve encountered recently,” said Rick McQueen, the president and CEO of the airport, in his opening remarks at the news conference. “We believe this is the big win for the airport as we move forward.”
The arrival is welcome news for the airport, which took a hit after Southwest bought AirTran in 2011.
After initially retaining all of its flights, Southwest changed its route structure in April after it announced it would only fly to Atlanta from Akron, though travelers have access to the Southwest network from there.
McQueen said Allegiant, one of the airport’s five existing airlines, does fly to the Orlando and Tampa regions, but not daily. Between the consolidation of airlines and reductions made by Southwest, service gaps have been made that both McQueen and Kopczak hope Spirit will fill.
“Service was reduced a little bit and fares have been getting higher, so we saw an opportunity to come in and help bring those fares down and bring people back into flying with this fabulous airport,” Kopczak said.
Kristie Van Auken, the airport’s senior vice president and chief communications officer, has been planning with Kopczak to bring Spirit Airlines to the airport for nearly 10 years.
“The reductions on Southwest, as painful as they were, opened up a window for us,” Van Auken said.
Many people at the conference had confidence this boost to the airport would trickle down to the community’s economy as well.
“Today, we have probably one of the finest ways to help grow a community, and that is first-class, low-cost air transportation,” said Dennis Saunier, the president of the Canton Chamber of Commerce. “We know what low air fares have done for our community over the past many years. When you think of what our companies save and what our citizens save when traveling, that money goes back into our community to buy other goods.”
Spirit Airlines currently serves more than 56 destinations. The airline says its fares cost nearly 40 percent less than others on average, charging a “bare fare” that includes one small bag. Passengers pay for all other extras — everything from water to checked or larger carry-on bags.
Spirit was introduced to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport last year with the same initial five destinations, and has since doubled the number of locations from that airport.
“In many ways, they’re very separate markets,” Kopczak said in reference to Cleveland and Akron, noting the two are complementary rather than competing. “Because we have this nice mix of airplanes, it gives us the opportunity to pick and choose different kinds of markets to serve. We saw good success with what we started with in Cleveland.”
Kopczak said depending on the reception, the airline may add additional destinations in the future.
“There is the opportunity potentially to grow there,” he said. “I can’t guarantee anything at this point, but we’re already looking.”
For now, though, the airline is testing out some warmer locations. Since it’s based out of Fort Lauderdale, it gives flyers access to international destinations like the Caribbean and central South America. Plus, the five initial locations are prime vacation destinations for Ohioans looking to escape the bitter winter.
“Let’s face it, starting in November, I have a feeling after this election, everybody’s going to want to head south for a big vacation, and we hope they fly out of here,” McQueen said.
Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @Theresa_Cottom.