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

Savi Syth: Hey. Good morning. A couple of follow-up questions actually on the capacity growth. Wondering if you could kind of talk about stage versus departure, it seems like your stage length has come down quite a bit. I am just curious what’s driving that and if we should see this as a new level or how you can expect that to progress in 2023?

Matt Klein: Hey Savi, it’s Matt. So, in terms of stage, our stage is coming in slightly from where it had been. And really, without getting into all of the technical reasons behind that, just to know that some of the delays that we have seen, as Ted and Scott has mentioned, with not just deliveries, but some of the on-wing €“ time on wing engine issues with the neo has caused us to make some very, I would call it, close-in network changes that we weren’t anticipating. And without getting into all of the specifics about it, what’s ended up happening is we have ended up pulling some of the longer haul, which is making the stage look shorter than really we had initially intended it to be. So, we are taking all this into account.

We now have a better view on what’s going on with the engine issues and the fleet plan overall, which has been moving a little bit over the last, say, six weeks to eight weeks or so. So, now they have a better handle on that. We will be able to think about the network more fully as we move through this year. All of that wrapped up to say we are aware of the stage number and where it’s at, and we anticipate it will lengthen out from here, but you will see that as we move through the year with the way that we think about the network. That will just get published as the schedules come out.

Savi Syth: That’s helpful. And if I might ask just on the peak versus off-peak demand trends, like €“ it seemed like in the fourth quarter, the off-peaks maybe were a bit stronger than you have seen in the past, and is that right? And are you seeing that trend continuing? And just as you kind of look at February, March, how does the off-peak and peak trends compared to what you saw in the fourth quarter?

Matt Klein: Yes. So, the off-peak in the fourth quarter was probably a little bit stronger than we are seeing here in the first quarter, but I am not talking that up to anything really other than some holiday shift things were dramatic. The Christmas and New Year’s period shifted by an entire week, which is not insignificant, and it just changes the way that everyone kind of thinks about off-peak travel after you come out of a peak. So, I am €“ definitely, the off-peaks are a little bit weaker right now than they were in the fourth quarter, but it’s not unexpected based on the holiday shifts, is the way I would say it. And the peaks that we are seeing as we move through the first quarter are strong. Every time we flowed out a little bit more inventory, if we see any kind of opportunity to drive some lower-yield demand, we are seeing that inventory gets snapped up right away.

So, demand is strong. We anticipate this will not just push through spring break, but really head through the shoulder period in Q2 and really move into the summer well. We are not seeing any indications of any kind of falloff of demand. And this a little bit of off-peak happening right now is really a blip and not anything that I am concerned about.

Savi Syth: That’s helpful. Thank you.

Matt Klein: You’re welcome.

Operator: And we will take our next question from Stephen Trent with Citi. Your line is open.