Spirit March 24 Opening

[Hondo Calrissian]

For the Spirit folks,
I am quite intrigued about the overall optics of how things are because I have a good numbers of friends who are at Spirit in dispatch, pilots, flight attendants, a mechanic and one who worked at FPA and have echoed the following:
1) Ted Christie needs to go
2) Even with the get the money from PW, it’s still not going to stop the bleeding
3) The growth in routes has hurt them
4) Some workgroups are overstaffed - mostly pilots and FAs
5) Aside from getting the money from PW - there was no plan b if the merger filed
6) Group who are in contract talks, the company has no desire to get one done
7) Spirit needs to rethink it’s business plan and restructure to flying of 8-10 years ago
8) Bankruptcy needs to happen the latest Q3 2024.

Aside from the stated above, 3 of my friends still at NK then everything will be fine, despite the 16 quarters of not turning a profit and getting the payout from PW will help.

Anyone who has worked in the industry from 9-11 to 2012 knows that all the majors went through bankruptcy, American twice while losing some to merger and some didn’t make it.

Spirit won’t go away…

 

[manniax]

Anyone who has worked in the industry from 9-11 to 2012 knows that all the majors went through bankruptcy, American twice while losing some to merger and some didn’t make it.

Continental did not go through bankruptcy (although they did get concessionary contracts from most of their unions at one point.)

 

[flynryan692]

For the Spirit folks,
I am quite intrigued about the overall optics of how things are because I have a good numbers of friends who are at Spirit in dispatch, pilots, flight attendants, a mechanic and one who worked at FPA and have echoed the following:
1) Ted Christie needs to go
2) Even with the get the money from PW, it’s still not going to stop the bleeding
3) The growth in routes has hurt them
4) Some workgroups are overstaffed - mostly pilots and FAs
5) Aside from getting the money from PW - there was no plan b if the merger filed
6) Group who are in contract talks, the company has no desire to get one done
7) Spirit needs to rethink it’s business plan and restructure to flying of 8-10 years ago
8) Bankruptcy needs to happen the latest Q3 2024.

Aside from the stated above, 3 of my friends still at NK then everything will be fine, despite the 16 quarters of not turning a profit and getting the payout from PW will help.

Anyone who has worked in the industry from 9-11 to 2012 knows that all the majors went through bankruptcy, American twice while losing some to merger and some didn’t make it.

Spirit won’t go away…

1) Maybe, it will probably come down to how he navigates the current struggles in my opinion.
2) True, but they "have a plan to right size the airline and return to profitability".
3) Not really, it seems more like they haven't pivoted with the changing markets well enough. New routes are still being opened monthly, while others go away. Part of the "reorganize and right size the airline" thing. 6 routes returned or were opened in March, 11 routes will return or open in April, more in May and June. Some routes have become seasonal, and some routes carry less frequency.
4) Yes
5) They have been saying they planned for it to fail, but also defer to "we're a publicly traded airline, so we can't share all the details yet". Difficult to know what to believe there. In their defense we have seen a number of changes, they did the lease back to get some liquidity, they got the PW compensation, they are making many changes to the route network, and they have offered early retirement/early out/voluntary furlough, whatever you want to call it, to help with staffing, so maybe they have a plan?
6) Probably true. People want money, the airline has no money, it is a simple math problem, so I am not sure what anybody expects here. Frustrating for those in negotiations, for sure. Non-union employees and management did not get raises this year, so it isn't just those in contract negotiations who suffer from the current financial situation.
7) I don't know about the flying of 8-10 years ago, they have a growing presence on the west coast and don't want to get pigeonholed into one region like jetBlue, but they absolutely need to rethink the business plan.
8) I do not think bankruptcy is inevitable, but it is an option. I also think the media saying the airline is doomed is speculation, they don't know what plans the airline has or doesn't have. They see a big fat bill due in 2025 and are unsure how it will get dealt with, so they automatically arrive at "doomed" because negativity is always the better talking point that gets clicks.

 

[Spatcher]

1) Maybe, it will probably come down to how he navigates the current struggles in my opinion.
2) True, but they "have a plan to right size the airline and return to profitability".
3) Not really, it seems more like they haven't pivoted with the changing markets well enough. New routes are still being opened monthly, while others go away. Part of the "reorganize and right size the airline" thing. 6 routes returned or were opened in March, 11 routes will return or open in April, more in May and June. Some routes have become seasonal, and some routes carry less frequency.
4) Yes
5) They have been saying they planned for it to fail, but also defer to "we're a publicly traded airline, so we can't share all the details yet". Difficult to know what to believe there. In their defense we have seen a number of changes, they did the lease back to get some liquidity, they got the PW compensation, they are making many changes to the route network, and they have offered early retirement/early out/voluntary furlough, whatever you want to call it, to help with staffing, so maybe they have a plan?
6) Probably true. People want money, the airline has no money, it is a simple math problem, so I am not sure what anybody expects here. Frustrating for those in negotiations, for sure. Non-union employees and management did not get raises this year, so it isn't just those in contract negotiations who suffer from the current financial situation.
7) I don't know about the flying of 8-10 years ago, they have a growing presence on the west coast and don't want to get pigeonholed into one region like jetBlue, but they absolutely need to rethink the business plan.
8) I do not think bankruptcy is inevitable, but it is an option. I also think the media saying the airline is doomed is speculation, they don't know what plans the airline has or doesn't have. They see a big fat bill due in 2025 and are unsure how it will get dealt with, so they automatically arrive at "doomed" because negativity is always the better talking point that gets clicks.

Management and some non union groups did in fact get raises last year… the only people that didn’t are dispatch and contract personnel

 

[osprey4441]

I would be pretty nervous moving to Florida for their upcoming new hire class.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/08/spirit-airlines-will-defer-airbus-orders-furlough-260-pilots.html

 

[TAF_Master]

I would be pretty nervous moving to Florida for their upcoming new hire class.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/08/spirit-airlines-will-defer-airbus-orders-furlough-260-pilots.html

Pilot furloughs are not dispatch furloughs. Most of NK has been on a hiring freeze and/or voluntary leaves for months, and I'm sure OCC management had the same idea of a freeze, but the attrition in the OCC has been so high they have been forced to hire even for a reduced amount of planes.

That said, furloughs/involuntary leaves are never good to see for any group.