Spirit Airlines announced on Thursday that it will furlough 330 pilots at the end of January next year. The canary yellow-branded carrier has been in a coal mine even before a federal judge shot down a $3.8 billion merger with JetBlue Airways in March. Spirit failed to report a profit in five of the last six quarters. The ultra-low-cost carrier is reportedly exploring a merger with its initial bidder, Frontier Airlines.
Spirit management plans to shrink the airline to cut costs by $80 million, according to Reuters. In addition to the furloughs, the carrier sold 23 Airbus A320/A321 planes this month for $519 million. Spirit’s flight capacity will be cut by 20 percent. The downsizing will also necessitate 120 captains being demoted to first officers. A Spirit spokesperson said, “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.”
It’s difficult to see where this plan to return to profitability is headed. If Spirit is reducing the size of its fleet, what planes are furloughed pilots going to return to fly? This also wasn’t the first round of furloughs. The carrier furloughed 186 pilots in September. Coincidentally, Spirit gave raises to its top executives on the same day that flight crews were notified about the furloughs. If Spirit doesn’t pull out of its tailspin soon, the ultra-low-cost carrier might become a Spirit Halloween.
