Spirit Airlines is cutting about 200 jobs companywide because the struggling budget carrier tries to chop costs after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November.
“These decisions were not made lightly as we know they impact professional and personal lives,” CEO Ted Christie wrote in an worker memo seen by CNBC. “As you all know, we are facing significant challenges with our business, which is why we have focused on taking measures to optimize our organization and increase efficiency. The bottom line is that we need to run a smaller airline and get back on better financial footing.
Spirit had about 13,000 employees at the time of its bankruptcy filing, about 84% of whom were represented by unions, according to a court filing. The job cuts affect non-union positions and are part of the company's plan to cut costs by $80 million.
“With all of these actions, coupled with this week’s workforce reductions, we have now reached our $80 million cost savings goal,” Christie wrote.
The Dania Beach, Florida-based airline had previously furloughed tons of of pilots and offered prolonged voluntary leaves of absence to flight attendants to chop costs. The company has also downsized its network and reached deals to sell a part of its Airbus aircraft fleet to boost money.
Spirit has been struggling because the proposed merger JetBlue was blocked by a federal court a yr ago on antitrust grounds, adding to struggles which have also included a Pratt & Whitney engine recall and a post-pandemic spike in labor costs.
Christie said the airline remains to be on target to exit bankruptcy this quarter.
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