Spirit Airlines to offer flights from Fort Myers to Boston, Dallas and Minneapolis

Spirit Airlines employees, who asked not to be identified, stand at a computer monitor at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Saturday, June 12, 2010. Flights were canceled due to a strike by Spirit Airlines' pilots.(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Fans of spring training got some great news Tuesday morning - it will now be easier to get from their home cities to Southwest Florida for those baseball games.

Spirit Airlines on Tuesday announced plans to offer direct flights daily from Boston and Minneapolis-St. Paul to Southwest Florida International Airport. The daily non-stop flights will run from Nov. 8 to April 24 for the first winter season.

"It's a real opportunity for us to take advantage of the high season when people don't want to be in the cold," said Mark Kopczak, Spirit Airlines senior director of network planning. "And if people in Southwest Florida want to see snow, we can provide a direct flight to it."

That announcement was made in conjunction with the news that Spirit will also offer seasonal, non-stop flights to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. The new routes double the number of cities Spirit Airlines currently serves from Southwest Florida.

Tuesday's announcement comes on a larger announcement from the airline for expanded flights and routes across the country, including non-stop service seasonally from Tampa to Chicago and from Fort Lauderdale to Minneapolis, Kopczak said.

"As we have grown and moved forward, we have looked for opportunities like these," he said. "We believe these flights are an attractive option for the winter season. We will be looking for other opportunities to grow."

Spirit Airlines has offered customers flights for about 20 years in Southwest Florida. The seasonal flights are currently available for purchase on www.spirit.com.