Spirit Airlines operations are ditching South Florida for Tennessee. Why? Hurricanes
South Florida residents have grown used to the looming threat of hurricanes crashing into the coast and disrupting their lives for days or weeks. But Spirit Airlines has had enough.
The airline, one of only a handful still operating out of South Florida, is relocating its operations department to somewhere much less likely to get leveled by a hurricane — Tennessee.
The Operations Control Center, a computer-packed hub at Spirit’s headquarters in Miramar responsible for coordinating more than 650 daily flights, will relocate to Williamson County, Tenn., come 2021. Twice previously, Spirit has been forced to move the center’s 240 employees out of state temporarily during hurricanes — once to Detroit during Hurricane Irma in 2017 and once to Atlanta during Hurricane Dorian in 2019.
Erik Hofmeyer, a spokesperson for the airline, said as the company works to double its fleet to 300 aircraft by 2027, a permanent operations move away from South Florida was needed.
“It can be disruptive to move it out of state temporarily,” said Hofmeyer. “That’s the control for our airline.”
The operations center move comes at a time when Spirit is doubling down on its investment in South Florida. Last month, the company broke ground on a new $250 million headquarters in Dania Beach. Come July, Spirit will be the largest international carrier at Fort-Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, with additional flights coming to 16 of its existing routes.
Spirit initially said it planned to move 1,000 employees currently working at its Miramar headquarters into the Dania Beach building and add an additional 225 jobs. Hofmeyer said the company now plans to have around 1,000 total employees at the new headquarters, including the new 225 positions. The company has about 6,500 employees in South Florida, including pilots, flight attendants, ground teams and counter agents.
Hofmeyer declined to comment on how climate change will impact Spirit’s business in South Florida, one of the areas in the country most vulnerable to stronger hurricanes and sea level rise.
“We’re very confident in the future here in South Florida,” he said.
Scientists have found that as climate change warms the globe, the chances of seeing a stronger, slower and wetter hurricane increase. The most recent hurricane to threaten Florida’s shore, Hurricane Dorian, slammed into the Bahamas with record-breaking force. And it stayed for days, thrashing the thinly built homes and businesses on islands in the northeast.
Spirit expects to complete its new Dania Beach headquarters by 2022. By 2060, the county is expected to see more than two feet of sea level rise, according to projections used by Broward County. That’s enough to cause serious flooding of the waterfront city.
According to Climate Central, with two feet of sea rise Dania Beach would have $328 million in property values at risk from regular flooding. Rising seas have spoiled several well fields in Dania and Hallandale Beach with saltwater.
This story has been updated with additional comment from Spirit Airlines.
This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 12:55 PM.
