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.”
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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