the signs were there but it seems they have indeed filed. Best of luck to those that are there:
Spirit files for bankruptcy
- Thread starter Malko
- Start date
CoffeeIcePapers
Well-Hung Member
Sucks, but expected. I think the ULCC model hit a limit. I think with the right management team and some reductions, they can make it out ok. First order of business is to clean house and sweep out their inept management team.
Murdoughnut
Well sized member
From the perspective of an industry analyst/consultant, I think many of us were concerned about both NK and F9's continuing growth strategies. Even in large hub markets, demand has a ceiling, and legacy basic economy products cut into that pretty significantly - particularly in the hubs. Neither F9 nor NK can downgrade and focus on mid-sized and smaller markets because of their strategy of increasing gauge. Meanwhile, Breeze can serve a lot of these markets with 139 seats that the others simply have too much gauge to serve. Allegiant was rightfully conservative in their growth strategy, while Avelo has found some niche markets the other carriers missed that are doing surprisingly well.
The NK business model isn't bad, there's just too much ULCC capacity out there, and too many of those carriers are deeply Florida exposed. When Florida was shut down for the hurricane last month, that resulted in a cancellation of 63% of G4's total operations and 47% of those for Breeze.
CoffeeIcePapers
Well-Hung Member
Spirit actually doubled down on Florida. They displaced a bunch of pilots to Florida bases, opened an Orlando and Miami base, after Covid. One of many mistakes management has made since then. Every earnings call since blames Florida weather and ATC.
Murdoughnut
Well sized member
Yeah, Florida yields are garbage right now, and it's bringing everyone down. You have some large hub markets where you have upward of six carriers serving Orlando. Good for the consumer - not so much for the carriers.
skypilot6
Well-Known Member
And it appears they MAY have learned their lesson, about 80% of the reductions and furloughs have come from the FL bases.
In other news, BK has been a long time coming, and IMO should have happened months ago. I'm happy we are "making progress" in dealing with our issues, but still worried what that progress will ultimately look like.
As someone born and raised in florida, i fixed that for you.
I have a ton of close friends that fly for spirit that this will greatly affect. I hope they make it through the other side or find someplace else to continue their career.
Autothrust Blue
“If you jump on my shift, that’s just rude, man.”
There's a reason (probably more than one) you live as far away as you can while still being within the continental U.S...
1Q 2025 exit, and:
See: Spirit Airlines Announces Comprehensive Agreement to Deleverage Balance Sheet and Position the Company for Long-Term Success as a Leading Low-Fare Carrier
GypsyPilot
Mohawk Town
I don’t disagree. But also the FL I moved to from Colorado in 2003 is vastly different in almost every way now. Politically, cost of living, population, etc.
I left FL in 2011, and had some good memories. But that version of FL is dead. My wife is a FL native, and she absolutely refuses to set foot back there unless it’s for someone’s funeral.
Autothrust Blue
“If you jump on my shift, that’s just rude, man.”
We cancelled our December Florida trip, too (my partner's from the panhandle and we just don't need to go there rn).
Murdoughnut
Well sized member
We were down in Tampa Bay over the weekend - I had a work event, but it was a chance for my wife and I to spend a night in St. Pete where we lived for 15-years. I had seen pictures of the debris, but wasn't prepared for just how much of it there was. Our old house was boarded up with a pile of cabinets and belongings out front. Yesterday we had brunch with two of our closest friends - they sold their Treasure Island home a month before Helene put 4' of water in their former house. It was going to be torn down for a mcmansion anyways, but still hard to see the house you raised your kids in get destroyed by nature like that.
BEEF SUPREME
Well-Known Member
A couple of friends are still there. Hopefully it will all work out...
Autothrust Blue
“If you jump on my shift, that’s just rude, man.”
We pilots need a healthy business throughout because healthy companies can sign healthy contracts for labor.
My fervent hope is that they come out of this with their CBAs intact. Reference above from the press release, and so on.
Box hauler
Well-Known Member
Where did you see that Spirit is getting rid of all CEO airplanes?
I remember the '21 meltdown where they blamed unprecedented thunderstorms in Florida in August. I think thunderstorms in Florida in August are the very definition of "precedented."
Autothrust Blue
“If you jump on my shift, that’s just rude, man.”
Yeah, I'd like to know more, myself, on that. That's a big hit; I know the 319s and some of the older 320s were on the block, but I didn't know they wanted to shed all the IAE (as in, operational...) engined airplanes.
to be honest, i am not on social media and news is depressing these days, so i dont keep up on news either, i have no idea what info is out in the public about Spirit, so i might have divulged something that was only meant for internal consumption... but our leadership team put out a video to the employee group the same time as the announcement and the CEO (person not airplane) announced that the plan is to divest all of the CEO planes and transition to an all NEO fleet. - so that is from the video. is there anything in print? I dont know.
everything below is just my conjecture.....
the NEO fleet is expected to be mostly parked in 2025 and 2026 with approx 60 NEO airframes parked in 2025-2026 due to no engines being available for them. which i guess is half of the NEO fleet. we just sold 32 CEOs - so that leaves us with 64 CEO planes... and with 60 parked NEOs - that's 120-ish planes.. so i would imagine that we'd still have around 120 flyable planes throughout 2025-2026 with the parked aircraft but if yellow makes it past 2026, all of the deferred NEO deliveries would start arriving and with all of the NEOs back flying, the CEOs would begin exiting...
there was no timeframe given for the plan to get rid of the remaining CEOs.
Autothrust Blue
“If you jump on my shift, that’s just rude, man.”
This is a good read.
www.thebignewsletter.com
Spirit Airlines CEO Got A $3.8 Million Bonus A Week Before Its Bankruptcy
There's a backlash against antitrust enforcement because enforcers blocked the JetBlue-Spirit merger. But this one's on the executives, who paid themselves lavishly a week before declaring bankruptcy.
www.thebignewsletter.com