American to upgrade service from Fort Lauderdale to Caribbean, Central America
July 10, 2007
South Florida travelers bound for the Caribbean and Central America will get more choices flying from Fort Lauderdale, as American Airlines announced a big expansion of service on Monday.
In a move to check fast-expanding Spirit Airlines, American said it will fly nonstop for the first time between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and San Jose, Costa Rica.
Miramar-based Spirit started flying to Costa Rica and Guatemala earlier this year, and plans new Fort Lauderdale flights to Honduras beginning July 20.
Those destinations have primarily been served from Miami by American. Although it will continue to offer those flights from Miami, American sees a growing market in Broward County and points north for Costa Rica, spokeswoman Martha Pantin said.
One of the smaller low-fare airlines, Spirit targeted the Caribbean and Central America beginning in 2004. It has also built its presence in Fort Lauderdale, and in May for the first time it was the largest carrier operating out of Fort Lauderdale airport, with 15.2 percent of all passengers. American in May carried 7.6 percent of the airport traffic.
Steve Hodel, owner of Fort Lauderdale-based Tico Travel, said his sales of packaged trips to Costa Rica have grown about 20 percent since 2005.
"When we first started doing it in 1992, nobody had heard of it," Hodel said. "Now everybody wants to go there."
Most leisure travel to Costa Rica is for eco-tourism, Hodel said, but fishing is also a draw for Americans, as well as the country's booming real estate market. "It's condos, its homes, its everything," he said of the demand to travel there.
Beyond Costa Rica, American Airlines also will reinstate service to Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, that was suspended from Fort Lauderdale in 2005. Two other Caribbean routes served by American will get larger planes, starting in December.
The battle for travelers between American and Spirit offers contrasting airline styles. Spirit has ultra-low, but very restricted, fares that are occasionally less than $10 each way for travelers lucky enough to snap them up. But it also charges a la carte for services that are standard on other carriers, such as checked bags.
American offers a top-tier frequent-flier program, years of international flying experience and technologically advanced reservations system.
AA.com listed a roundtrip fare of $349 for its two-hour-and-50- min- ute Fort Lauderdale-to-Costa Rica flight in mid-December. Spirit's Web site listed a $120 fare, plus taxes and fees of up to $125, for the same dates.
Spirit's low fares attract passengers not only from Broward, but draw Miami-Dade County residents, too, Palm Beach International Airport marketing director Dick Haller said. "Sounds like [American] is trying to protect its market share," he said.
Spirit's headlong growth has caused some strain, according to the Air Line Pilots Association, which released a statement on Monday criticizing Spirit for scheduling too many international flights for its available pilot pool.
"As a result, the airline is now attempting to circumvent the pilots' union and make individual arrangements with pilots to perform flying in violation of contractual limits," the statement said.
Spirit declined comment on the pilots' complaint, citing ongoing contract talks. It thinks American's new service will help Fort Lauderdale airport gain business, giving an indirect boost to Spirit, a spokeswoman said.
Beyond its new routes, American said Monday it will put 267-seat A-300 planes from Fort Lauderdale on its daily flight to Haiti and one of its three daily trips to San Juan, Puerto Rico. It currently uses a 148-seat plane for flights to Port-au-Prince and 188-seat planes to Puerto Rico.
Spirit flies from Palm Beach International only in the winter, and only to domestic destinations. American serves West Palm Beach year-round. There are no nonstop flights from the West Palm Beach airport to the Caribbean or Central America, Haller said.