Spirit Airlines shutdown impacts Atlantic City airport journey – NBC10 Philadelphia

Monitors nonetheless promise “more fly,” however nobody is boarding Spirit planes parked at Atlantic City International Airport after the airline shut down operations over the weekend, leaving annoyed passengers scrambling to make new journey plans.

“I had to pay an extra $300 something dollars to go to another airline,” mentioned Frances Smart of Miami, Florida.

“We’re flying into Fort Lauderdale, which is going to take us three hours to drive up to Disney World — Orlando. What a mess,” mentioned Maryjean Bohrman and Kenneth Minerva of Lakehurst, New Jersey.

Spirit’s exit is a serious blow to Atlantic City International, typically seen as a extra handy and fewer aggravating different to bigger airports in Philadelphia and Newark. Of the roughly 900,000 vacationers who handed via ACY final 12 months, about 75% flew on Spirit.

“There’s absolutely a short term effect. There’s employees — unfortunately, some are going to be laid off because the business isn’t here,” mentioned airport director Tim Kroll.

At the top of its greater than 30-year run at ACY, Spirit provided routes to a few half-dozen standard trip locations.

Other airways are starting to fill among the gaps. Allegiant already operates a number of routes much like Spirit’s, and Breeze Airways — set to start service at ACY Wednesday — introduced 4 new routes following the shutdown. However, these flights usually are not anticipated to roll out till July.

“Less supply means more pressure on the existing supply for the demand, and we should indeed see those fares going up,” mentioned Brian Tyrrell of Stockton University.

The disruption is already affecting vacationers.

“My husband was supposed to fly home on Spirit this Wednesday. And of course, now he’s driving,” mentioned Aileen Widerman of Brigantine, New Jersey.

Officials say Spirit’s lengthy dominance at ACY could have discouraged different carriers from coming into the market. Now, they consider its departure might open the door for a serious airline to maneuver in, resembling American Airlines, which already gives bus service between Atlantic City International and Philadelphia International Airport.

This story was initially reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI instruments helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.