Spirit Airlines announced Monday it will furlough roughly one-third of its flight attendants as part of ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. The carrier, which has filed for Chapter 11 protection for the second time in a year, cited continued cash shortages and mounting losses.
The move will temporarily sideline about 1,800 of Spirit’s 5,200 flight attendants, effective Dec. 1.
“We recognize the impact of this decision on affected team members, and we are committed to treating them with care and respect during this process,” the airline said in a statement.
The flight attendants’ union said Monday that Spirit Airlines will first offer six-month and one-year voluntary furloughs beginning Nov. 1. If not enough workers volunteer, involuntary furloughs based on seniority will take effect Dec. 1.
According to the Association of Flight Attendants, efforts are underway to secure “preferential interview” opportunities at other airlines for furloughed members.
As Spirit Airlines continues to face high costs and declining domestic demand, it’s dropping underperforming routes and doubling down on its money-making strongholds: Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Detroit. Accordingly, Spirit is pulling out of 11 cities come Oct. 2nd: Albuquerque, Birmingham, Boise, Chattanooga, Oakland, Columbia (SC), Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, and San Jose (CA). In addition, Spirit has scrapped its Oct. 16 debut in Macon, GA.
The Company has created a dedicated website for stakeholders to learn about its restructuring process at spiritrestructuring.com. Additional information about the Company’s Chapter 11 case, including access to Court filings and other documents related to the restructuring process, is available at dm.epiq11.com/SpiritAirlines.
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