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Spirit Airlines furloughed around 186 pilots last month. Now, it is being reported that Spirit will furlough more than 300 additional pilots starting in early 2025 per a a Securities and Exchange Commission filing as part of an effort to cut $80 million in costs.
In total, around 330 of Spirit’s 3,500 pilots will be furloughed next year. It’s a bitter pill to swallow for the pilots who work hard for the carrier. Spirit Airlines Master Executive Council (SPA) – ALPA confirmed in the past that WARN (Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification) notices were issued to pilots around furloughs.
AirlineGeeks reports that a Spirit spokesperson shared the following:
We are implementing a series of cost savings initiatives throughout our business, including a reduction in workforce, as part of our comprehensive plan to return to profitability.
We have made the difficult decision to furlough approximately 330 Pilots, effective Jan. 31, 2025, to align with our expected flight volume. These decisions are never made lightly, and we are committed to treating all affected Team Members with the utmost care and respect during this process.”
Spirit Airlines is reportedly in the early stages of renewing its merger talks with Frontier Airlines. It’s also looking to reduce its costs amidst its current financial challenges and uncertain future.
The low-cost carrier has identified $80 million worth of cost savings in roles that it plans to layoff and furloughs in the near future. No word has been released on how many employees will be impacted or what their roles are within the airline other than the pilot furloughs noted above. Additionally, 23 aircraft will be sold to aviation services firm, GA Telesis, for around $519 million. These Airbus A320ceo and A321ceo aircraft were built between 2014 and 2019 and will be delivered this month through February.
Spirit reports that the proceeds from the aircraft sale, along with the repayment of its related debt, will improve its liquidity by $225 million through the end of next year. The airline appears to be trying to get on the right track, but in a recent regulatory filing, Spirit estimates its Q4 capacity to drop 20% from last year. This is the result of ongoing issues around the availability of Pratt & Whitney GTF engines as well as the sale of the aircraft mentioned above.
Spirit’s financials have not been pretty for some time (it reported a net loss of $192 million in Q2). It recently extended its debt restructuring deadline with Visa and Mastercard (it’s now December 23rd versus earlier this week). The airline needs to refinance $1.1 billion in bonds or it will not be able to process credit card transactions in 2025.
There have been more than 40 routes cut in recent months as Spirit juggles its schedule to find the most profitable ones. This comes at a time when it has updated and rebranded its offerings, added a more First Class and European Business Class (middle seat blocked) experience and eliminated fees for changes and cancellations. Will it all be enough to keep Spirit from filing for bankruptcy?
The JetBlue and Spirit merger would have likely painted a different picture for the low-cost carrier. A judge ruled in March that the $3.8 billion merger was not moving forward based on anti-competition concerns. Had the deal been completed, the combined airline would have become the fifth largest in the United States. Chapter 11 would give the airline a path as it would help restructure debt while maintaining its operations and the chance for a potential merger.
Anthony’s Take: I like Spirit and hope that they are able to weather all of the issues that are currently in play. If they do merge with Frontier, I hope that more of what Spirit currently offers sticks versus the ultra-low-cost model that Frontier operates.
(Image Credits: Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
