Spirit Airlines may have been the butt of jokes — and even hated by some — but there’s no doubt it drove down airfares.
Multiple studies dubbed that impact as the “Spirit effect,” and it was central to the Justice Department’s argument to block its merger with JetBlue — it said average fares would fall by as much as 17% whenever Spirit operated a route.
Now that Spirit is gone, its competitors will have more pricing power, and fares, as a result, will likely rise. However, higher fuel costs will probably be a bigger factor in increases as carriers cut capacity.
While Spirit made up a small share of the market, it impacted airfares on 13% of nonstop domestic routes in the U.S., according to an analysis from aviation analyst Courtney Miller’s newsletter Visual Approach Analytics. Miller said the impact on fares will be felt most on the East Coast, where Spirit continued to maintain a core presence in its final months.