Spirit Airlines, Inc. (NYSE:SAVE) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

So as we move through the spring towards the summer, we should start to see some of that relax naturally as we would fly more off-peak days of the week, normally as we head towards the peak. And then the question will be is, as we operate through the spring and the summer, then we will know how things are going towards the fall. So it’s a little early for us to talk about the fall post summer to think about these kinds of impacts to get revenue in the network. But we’re confident that we’re building up. Ted mentioned our operation last year was Mid-Pac in both on-time performance and completion factor. We’re good with that. And as long as we can continue to maintain that, we will be able to keep loosening up these restrictions as the year progresses.

Dan McKenzie: I see. And then second question here. The normalized operations in the fourth quarter later this year, does that assume that Pratt & Whitney issues are resolved by then? And I guess just more broadly, if you could address SAVE’s cost structure today and to what extent the cost structure is a margin headwind in the next cycle? And with that, if it is €“ if it’s not, can pre-tax margins get back to where they have been historically or at least how should investors think about what a normalized margin should look like for Spirit?

Ted Christie: Hey Dan. So, as for the first half €“ this is Ted. We do make an assumption that we are going to be collectively with Pratt resolving the availability issue on the neo throughout the remainder of this year, such that by the time we hit the fourth quarter, we are able to support full utilization, which would include aircraft that are currently unable to be operated. So, there is an assumption in there, which obviously could change if we don’t get the mitigation efforts and the improvement that we are hoping for. But we will keep you posted on that throughout the year. And maybe, Scott, do you want to comment on CASM and margins?

Scott Haralson: Yes. So, quickly on unit cost and maybe go forward views on unit cost margin, obviously the three components that we have talked about a lot and every airline has, which is aircraft €“ sorry, airport cost and labor costs, which make the majority of our move. And the biggest is obviously, labor. Labor accounts for probably north of 60% of our unit cost increase versus 2019. And the other is how we are sort of thinking about aircraft financing, which could be temporary or at least in this window has been primarily sale-leaseback financing and operating leases which is probably a 10-point to 15-point headwind on unit cost by itself. So, it’s aircraft rent, it’s labor, it’s airport costs, which has been the big mover for us.

And so going forward, it’s about getting efficiency in the other parts of the business, getting back to full utilization or very close to it. But there are going to be other operating parameters that are going to be difficult for the industry. And we have talked about it, every airline has talked about the parameters operating today are different than what they were pre-COVID. So, it’s going to take a little more infrastructure to do that than it did in 2029, but we have put those investments in place. So, we expect full utilization to be a product that we will get to by the end of the year and into 2024. But I think the fundamental component about our margin production is still sort of mid-teens margins. We think that as the supply/demand impact is back to an equilibrium, fuel goes back to where it’s sort of been as an average, we expect us to produce mid-teens margins.