Spirit Airlines 2013 Annual Report Download - page 8

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Fleet
We fly only Airbus A320 family aircraft, which provides us significant operational and cost advantages compared to
airlines that operate multiple aircraft types. By operating a single aircraft type, we avoid the incremental costs of training crews
across multiple types. Flight crews are entirely interchangeable across all of our aircraft, and maintenance, spare parts
inventories and other operational support remains highly simplified compared to those of more complex fleets. Due to this
commonality among Airbus single-aisle aircraft, we can retain the benefits of a fleet comprised of a single type of aircraft while
still having the flexibility to match the capacity and range of the aircraft to the demands of each route.
As of December 31, 2013, we had a fleet of 54 Airbus single-aisle aircraft, consisting of 29 A319s, 23 A320s and 2
A321s and the average age of the fleet was 5.1 years. All of our existing aircraft were financed under operating leases with
expirations between 2016 and 2025.
As of December 31, 2013, firm aircraft orders consisted of 112 A320 family aircraft (37 of the existing A320 aircraft
model, 45 A320neos, 25 of the existing A321 model and 5 A321neos) with Airbus and 5 direct operating leases for A320neos
with a third-party lessor. As of December 31, 2013, spare engine orders consisted of six V2500 SelectOne engines with IAE
and nine PurePower PW 1100G-JM engines with Pratt & Whitney. Aircraft are scheduled for delivery from 2014 through 2021
and spare engines are scheduled for delivery from 2014 through 2024. The firm aircraft orders provide for capacity growth as
well as the flexibility to replace all or some of the 54 aircraft in our present fleet. We may elect to supplement these deliveries
by additional acquisitions from the manufacturer or in the open market if demand conditions merit.
Consistent with our ULCC business model, each of our aircraft is configured with a high density seating configuration,
which helps us maintain a lower unit cost and pass savings to our customers. Our A319s accommodate 145 passengers
(compared to 114 or 128 on United, 124 on US Airways and 128 on American Airlines), our A320s accommodate 178
passengers (compared to 138 or 150 on United, 150 on US Airways and 150 on JetBlue) and our A321s accommodate 218
passengers (compared to 183 or 187 on US Airways, 102 on American Airlines and 159 or 190 on JetBlue).
Maintenance and Repairs
We have an FAA mandated and approved maintenance program, which is administered by our technical services
department. Our maintenance technicians undergo extensive initial and ongoing training to ensure the safety of our aircraft.
Aircraft maintenance and repair consists of routine and non-routine maintenance, and work performed is divided into
three general categories: line maintenance, heavy maintenance and component service. Line maintenance consists of routine
daily and weekly scheduled maintenance checks on our aircraft, including pre-flight, daily, weekly and overnight checks, and
any diagnostics and routine repairs and any unscheduled items on an as needed basis. Line maintenance events are currently
serviced by in-house mechanics supplemented by contract labor and are primarily completed at airports we currently serve.
Heavy airframe maintenance checks consist of a series of more complex tasks that can take from one to four weeks to
accomplish and typically are required approximately every 20 months. Heavy engine maintenance is performed approximately
every four to six years and includes a more complex scope of work. Due to our relatively small fleet size and projected fleet
growth, we believe outsourcing all of our heavy maintenance activity, such as engine servicing, major part repair and
component service repairs is more economical. Outsourcing eliminates the substantial initial capital requirements inherent in
heavy aircraft maintenance. We have entered into a long-term flight hour agreement for our current fleet with IAE for our
engine overhaul services and Lufthansa Technik on an hour-by-hour basis for component services. We outsource our heavy
airframe maintenance to FAA-qualified maintenance providers.
Our recent maintenance expenses have been lower than what we expect to incur in the future because of the relatively
young age of our aircraft fleet. Our maintenance costs are expected to increase as the scope of repairs increases with the
increasing age of our fleet. As our aircraft age, scheduled scope of work and frequency of unscheduled maintenance events is
likely to increase like any mature fleet. Our aircraft utilization rate could decrease with the increase in aircraft maintenance.
Employees
Our business is labor intensive, with labor costs representing approximately 19.1%, 19.1% and 19.6% of our total
operating costs for 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. As of December 31, 2013, we had 869 pilots, 1,248 flight attendants, 25
flight dispatchers, 346 mechanics, 791 airport agents/other and 340 employees in administrative roles for a total of 3,619
employees. Approximately 59% of our employees were represented by labor unions under three different collective-bargaining
agreements. On an average full-time equivalent basis, for the full year 2013, we had 3,224 employees, compared to 2,767 in
2012.