Spirit Airlines
said Tuesday that board member Bob Fornaro has replaced longtime
president and CEO Ben Baldanza, effective immediately.
The move comes a
Spirit’s stock has dropped by nearly half over the past year even as the ultra-low-cost carrier has rapidly expanded.
“Following the
tremendous growth and success of Spirit over the last 10 years, the board and I
have concluded that the this is the right time to implement an orderly
succession plan,” Baldanza, who became CEO in 2006, said in a prepared
statement.
Bob Fornaro
Spirit provided
no further details about the reason for his departure, though the announcement
notes that Baldanza recently moved to the Washington, D.C. area. Spirit’s
headquarters are outside of Fort Lauderdale.
Fornaro, a
35-year veteran of the airline industry, was the CEO of AirTran from 2007 until
the discount carrier was purchased by Southwest in 2011. He was appointed to
Spirit's board of directors in May 2014.
He said that
under his leadership Spirit would maintain its focus on providing the lowest
fares on the routes it flies.
“I look forward
to working with the rest of Spirit’s management team and team members to grow
the company’s proven ultra-low-cost model and drive value for all of Spirit’s
stockholders,” he said in a statement.
For the first
nine months of 2015, Spirit reported a 43.2% growth in net income while
increasing capacity by 34.1%.
Nevertheless, as of the opening on Tuesday, the carrier’s stock sat at $38.92
per share, down from $74.13 a year earlier. The drop was due in part to
disappointing results in the carrier’s profit margin, according to analysts.
During his
tenure at Spirit, Baldanza ushered the company into its current business model
as an ultra-low-cost carrier that charges ancillary fees for everything from
carry-on bags to seat assignments to boarding passes printed at the airport.