Spirit Airlines Deferring Airbus Deliveries 

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Photo of: Spirit Airlines Airbus A320neo

Contributing Factors

In addition to the termination of the merger with JetBlue, Spirit has had another issue on their hands. The Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbo Fan (GTF) engines on the Airbus A320neo and A321neo aircraft have been plagued with issues. While not exclusively a Spirit Airlines issue, this resulted in new aircraft being grounded while the engines are being serviced. Spirit entered into a compensation agreement with Pratt & Whitney for the GTF issues. Spirit estimates the compensation to improve liquidity by upwards of $200 million over the term of the agreement.

Furlough Of Pilots

Spirit also announced that approximately 260 pilots will be furloughed beginning September 1,2024. “I am extremely proud of our dedicated Spirit team for their focus and resilience over the last few years. Unfortunately, we had to make the difficult decision to furlough Pilots given the grounded aircraft in our fleet and our deferral of future deliveries. We are doing everything we can to protect Team Members, while balancing our responsibility to return to positive cash-flow and thrive as a healthy company with long-term growth prospects. I thank the Spirit team for continuing to deliver affordable fares and great experiences to Guests,” said Ted Christie, Spirit’s President and Chief Executive Officer.