Let’s travel back in time to April 2013. Spirit Airlines was just taking off at PHL, offering passengers three daily departures to Dallas (DFW), Las Vegas (LAS) and Myrtle Beach (MYR), with an average of 534 daily seats. 

Fast forward 10 years—Spirit now serves 17 destinations from PHL (including Cancun, Montego Bay and Punta Cana), with 19 average daily departures and 3,533 daily seats.

Oakland, Ca., is the latest addition to Spirit’s Philadelphia roster. PHL and airline representatives celebrated the flight with a gate event on May 5. 

“We are very appreciative of the service our community has to great destinations thanks to Spirit," said PHL CEO Atif Saeed. "We are also incredible grateful to have these two phenominal cities- Philadelphia and Oakland- now connected directly. Oakland is very close to other cities in the Bay Area. This flight provides another option for folks to travel there, too.” 

In addition to celebrating its 10th PHL anniversary and the PHL-OAK flight, Spirit presented a check for $20,000 to loal nonprofit Sacred Seeds.

“Our airline has evolved in the past 10 years as we’ve invested in the Guest experience through enhanced cabin interiors, high-speed Wi-Fi, one of the youngest fleets in the industry, and more, however, our commitment to the Philadelphia community hasn’t changed,” said Matt Klein, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Spirit Airlines. “We’re dedicated to offering travelers the best value in the sky as well as giving back to the communities we serve through the Spirit Charitable Foundation." 

Guests flying to OAK on May 5 received gift bags with Spirit, PHL and Philadelphia-themed swag. The PHL and OAK teams also exchanged goody bags, hand-delivered by the Spirit flight crews.