Paper #1Organization and Industry Descriptions

Provide a brief introduction to your teams chosen company. Some questions to consider:

What is the organizations history?

Who is the founder?

What does the organization do? Not do?

In what geographic markets?

In what demographic markets?

In what industry does your firm operate?

Who are the other major players in the industry? Any strategic groups?

Spirit Airlines

Spirit Airlines is a well-known airline that operates in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Spirit Airlines is known for their cheap airfares and being a budget-friendly airline. However, they are also known for not being the most reputable brand in the airline industry.

What is the organizations history?

In 1964, the company started as Clippert Trucking Company. They changed their name to Ground Air Transfer, Inc. ten years later. The airline service was founded by Ned Homfeld as Charter One Airlines, a charter tour operator that provides travel destinations to popular entertainment destinations.

In 1922, Charter One introduced jet aircraft into the fleet, and this is when they changed their name to Spirit Airlines. Flights between Detroit and Atlantic City were scheduled about a month later, and then flights between Boston and Providence soon thereafter. In 1993, they began scheduled service to Florida and in the next year, service to Philadelphia. They continued to expand further over the next 5 years.

Their first major mishap occurred in the summer of 1994 when Spirit overbooked their flights and was forced to cancel 1,400 customers’ tickets. They had given the wrong instructions to travel agents which resulted in the tickets being invalid even though they had been paid for. In response, Spirit said they would make sure all customers who already paid would be able to get to their destination even if it meant booking them on a competitor’s airline.