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Local travelers seeking no-frills, budget-friendly airfares have a new option: Spirit Airlines. On Thursday, the Florida-based discount carrier started flying at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, marking the occasion by giving away a trip to Florida and celebrating with a ribbon-cutting by airport and company executives.
Spirit will have one gate at CLT, located on Concourse A. Its daily flights will travel to and from Baltimore; Newark, New Jersey; and two Florida destinations — Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.
At 6 a.m. on Thursday, the first Spirit flight took off from Charlotte, headed to Newark. John Kirby, the airline’s vice president of network planning, told CBJ Spirit could eventually serve eight to 10 cities from Charlotte.
Population gains in Charlotte and across North Carolina have made the airline bullish on this part of the country, Kirby said.
Read the full story here.
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