Free airfare – that’s the spirit.

Literally, it is Spirit Airlines that’s giving away free airfare to some lucky people in the area starting on Saturday, July 20 and running through the fall.

This type of promotion and other moves by the up and coming airline certainly seem to be working because Spirit has been adding flights to North Carolina and, this June, it began service to and from Charlotte.

Spirit and Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) are teaming up for the new promotion that will offer prizes of free airfare to the winners.

People can enter to win the free flights out of PTIA on Saturday, July 20 by going to the Spirit booth at the “Rock 92 Brewfest” at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex and at other events.  People will also be able to enter the free airfare contest at the “98.7 Simon Picnics in the Plaza” on the Wednesdays of August 7, September 11 and October 2.

Spirit began offering flights from PTIA last fall, and both the airline and the airport have been doing what they can to promote Spirit and publicize the airline’s new low-cost routes.

Spirit opened new PTIA routes to Florida in early September with flights to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Orlando International Airport and Tampa International Airport.  Since then, PTIA has seen impressive growth in its passenger traffic – in large part thanks to Spirit and its popular Florida destinations.

In fact, Spirit is ramping up service in the state.  With the summer vacation season now in full swing, Spirit has begun service to Charlotte Douglass International Airport. It did so on Thursday, June 20, with nonstop daily flights to Baltimore/Washington, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Newark.  Those four routes will operate year-round and will also create dozens of connections for some of Spirit’s most popular destinations in the US, the Caribbean and Latin America.

Charlotte is now Spirit’s fourth destination in North Carolina – the airline serves PTIA, Asheville Regional Airport and Raleigh-Durham International Airport as well.  With the addition of the Charlotte airport, Spirit now has more than 15 daily departures across the state.

John Kirby, Spirit’s vice president of network planning said that his airline is “thrilled” with the growth of service in North Carolina and he added that  “value-focused” flyers will love the lower fares as well as the “service and operational excellence” that they get on Spirit flights.

Even NC Governor Roy Cooper commented publicly on the growth Spirit is undergoing throughout the state.

“Spirit Airlines’ expanding service to Charlotte will help spur economic activity in the area and show that North Carolina is a great place to live and visit,” the governor said.