Spirit Airlines’ Shocking Fleet Purge: What Ditching Over 100 Planes Means for Your Next Flight and the Future of Budget Air Travel
When an airline slices its fleet in half, you’ve got to wonder: what’s the story behind the headlines? Spirit Airlines, that scrappy discounter from Dania Beach, Florida, is wrestling with a harsh reality—bankruptcy isn’t just a footnote; it’s reshaping the very bones of the company. This week, Spirit boldly asked a bankruptcy court’s blessing to ditch leases on 87 Airbus jets, on top of a separate deal to give back even more planes to lessors. To put it bluntly, they’re looking to shed 114 aircraft—amounting to more than half of their fleet. That’s akin to wiping out an entire airline the size of Allegiant Air or Copa Airlines overnight. And let’s not forget the headaches with those fuel-efficient A320neos, plagued by engine woes that have grounded significant parts of their service. Spirit’s CFO estimates this brutal pruning could save the airline hundreds of millions annually—but at what cost to travelers and staff? As routes disappear and crews face furloughs, we’re left to ask if this is the price of survival or a signpost to something deeper. Curious to take a closer look at how Spirit’s fighting for its future? LEARN MORE
Spirit Airlines is making tough decisions in bankruptcy as it fights to survive.
On Thursday, the Dania Beach, Florida-based discounter asked a bankruptcy court for permission to reject leases on 87 Airbus A320-family aircraft and return them to lessors. The request covers 19 A320ceos, 65 A320neos and three A321neos.
This came two days after Spirit sought court approval for a separate deal with aircraft leasing giant AerCap to return 27 A320neo planes to the company.
The requests together total 114 planes, or more than half of Spirit’s 214-aircraft-strong fleet in August when it filed for its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy in less than a year.
FAQ: Spirit Airlines’ bankruptcy and how it might affect your travel
Put another way, the number of planes Spirit plans to cut is the equivalent of an entire airline the size of Allegiant Air or Panama’s Copa Airlines.
The lease rejections also cover Spirit’s entire fleet of fuel-sipping A320neo planes, which have been dogged by issues with their Pratt and Whitney geared turbofan engines. In August, the airline grounded 38 Pratt and Whitney-powered aircraft due to engine issues.
“Rejecting these leases will relieve Spirit of the burden of unprofitable leases and of the costs of maintaining and storing several aircraft that are already out of service,” Fred Cromer, chief financial officer of Spirit, said in a court filing on Thursday.
He estimated that the annual savings for Spirit would amount to “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
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Spirit is making drastic cuts in an effort to survive its double dip bankruptcy. The airline is exiting at least 13 destinations, ranging from small markets like Boise, Idaho, to large cities like Minneapolis.
“We’ll continue to make our routine schedule and network adjustments, but do not anticipate any additional airport exits in the near future,” Rana Ghosh, chief commercial officer of Spirit, said in a note to staff on Sept. 26 viewed by TPG.
A Spirit spokesperson on Friday said the lease rejections allow the airline “to align our fleet with our previously announced network adjustments.”
In November, Spirit will fly nearly 19% fewer flights and 16% fewer seats than it did a year ago, schedule data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows.
Spirit is also seeking deep cost savings from its pilots and furloughing roughly 1,800 flight attendants — a third of its cabin crew ranks — by Dec. 1.
If all of the lease rejections are approved, Spirit will operate 100 aircraft based on its fleet count at the end of August. Those planes would include 43 A320ceos, 29 A321ceos and 29 A321neos. All A319s and A320neos either having been retired or returned to lessors.
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