Airbus aircraft from Spirit Airlines will soon touch down in Silicon Valley.
The Miramar, Florida-based carrier revealed on Thursday that as of June 7, it will be introducing a brand-new route map pin in San Jose, California.
Spirit will initially operate three services from Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) to San Diego, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Las Vegas.
While the other two destinations only have daily flights, service to Vegas will operate twice daily.
San Jose will join the six currently serviced airports by Spirit in California, which are as follows:
• Burbank.
• Los Angeles.
• Oakland.
• Orange County.
• Sacramento.
• San Diego.
It is thrilling to see Spirit arrive in San Jose because it represents a larger change in the resurgence of leisure travel in an aviation market that was severely affected by the pandemic.
During the start of the pandemic, the airport lost most of its foreign traffic, and Frontier Airlines, Spirit's main low-cost rival, even left the area in September 2021.
Moreover, Delta Air Lines made the decision to stop focusing on San Jose during the epidemic, which included terminating its main transcontinental trip to New York.
Being the sole ultra-low-cost carrier already operating in San Jose, Spirit's entry should result in reduced airfares on the routes the airline will cover.
Director of aviation at SJC John Aitken said in a statement that "today's announcement represents a step forward for our Airport, our City, and for air travel in our region."
"This new cooperation shows how the airline industry is changing to take advantage of new opportunities and strategies, reflecting a comeback in leisure travel.
We are beyond thrilled to have the Spirit Airlines crew in San Jose and to showcase their distinctive and avant-garde brand at SJC," he continued.
It's noteworthy that Spirit isn't adding any new "lines" to the SJC route diagram.
On its new intra-California route, Spirit will face competition from Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
In contrast to American Airlines' historical exclusivity on the route between San Jose and Dallas-Fort Worth, Southwest also offers service from San Jose to Las Vegas.
In spite of this, the airline is launching some tempting introductory flights, with prices starting at $39 to Las Vegas, $59 to San Diego, and $89 to Dallas-Fort Worth.
Seeing how Spirit's rivals react will be interesting.
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