Today in the Sky reports that Spirit Airlines has filed an application with the DOT to serve Caracas, Venezuela from Ft. Lauderdale. It hopes to start selling tickets as soon as possible for an April 1st inauguration of service. Spirit serves multiple destinations in the Caribbean from Ft. Lauderdale, but this would be its first service to South America.
Service from the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area to South America, a lucrative market, is dominated by American Airlines and its Miami hub. Spirit can expect competition and fare war pricing on this route from the legacy carrier. American has beaten Spirit before.
U.S. low cost carriers so far have only made limited forays into international destinations, mostly with cross-border service to Mexico and service to the Carribean. This could lead to more daring moves by such carriers.