Spirit tabs Cleveland as newest city, unveils 8 routes

Spirit Airlines announced Wednesday (Sept. 24) that it would make Cleveland its newest city, the 57th in the carrier's route network.

And Spirit plans to make a big entrance in Cleveland, saying it will phase in eight new routes between Jan. 15 and April 16.

Spirit's expansion in Cleveland follows United's February decision to drop Cleveland as a hub. That move put a significant dent in the airport's flight schedule, with United reducing its operations there from the roughly 200 "peak day" departures it offered at the time of the announcement to only about 70 by summer. As part of the downsizing, United slashed the number of nonstop routes it flew from Cleveland to fewer than 20, down from 59.

That opened the door for some carriers — notably Frontier Airlines — to come in and backfill at least a some of the capacity dropped by United. Frontier has developed Cleveland into one of its "focus cities," adding numerous new nonstop routes from the city. The carrier flew to just three cities from Cleveland during the spring of 2014, but had detailed plans for a total of 17 by June.

Now Spirit, which competes in the same "ultra low-cost carrier" niche as Frontier, appears to sense a similar opportunity in Cleveland.

"Cleveland and Northeastern Ohio have endured high fares long enough," Mark Kopczak, Spirit's VP of Network Planning, says in a statement announcing the airlines expansion to the city's Hopkins International Airport.

As for Spirit's new nonstop routes from Cleveland, the first three routes will launch Jan. 15 with the remaining five to start in two additional phases. Here are the details:

Orlando: Daily service begins Jan. 15

Tampa: Thrice-weekly service begins Jan. 15; scheduled to be winter seasonal service

Fort Myers, Fla.: Four weekly flights begin Jan. 15.; scheduled to be winter seasonal service

Fort Lauderdale: Daily service begins Feb. 5

Dallas/Fort Worth: Daily service begins Feb. 5

Las Vegas: Daily service begins Feb. 5

Los Angeles: Daily service begins April 16

Myrtle Beach, S.C.: Daily service begins April 16; scheduled to be summer seasonal service