Spirit Airlines to Sell 11% of Fleet for $519 Million

On Thursday, the Florida-based ultra-low-cost Spirit Airlines announced its decision to sell 23 of its A320-family aircraft, a whopping 11% of its entire fleet. 

Spirit's binding agreement with GA Telesis, an aviation aftermarket services company that specializes in aircraft maintenance and component sales, is worth over $519 million. 
 

Details of the Deal

On Thursday, October 24th, Spirit Airlines disclosed its deal with GA Telesis in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), predicting it would boost the airline’s liquidity by around $225 million through the end of next year. 

The purchase agreement will see Spirit cede 23 Airbus A320-family jets, a mix of A320ceo and A321ceo aircraft. Spirit plans to begin deliveries of purchased aircraft at the end of October, with the final aircraft being pulled out of service by February 2025. 

All of the sold aircraft were manufactured by Airbus between 2014 and 2019, with each plane outfitted with either V2527-A5 or V2533-A5 Select-One jet engines. 

Commenting on the purchase, Marc Cho, President of GA Telesis LIFT Group said: “We are thrilled to announce this significant acquisition, which adds many highly sought-after Airbus A320ceo and A321ceo aircraft to our portfolio.”

“The A320ceo family of aircraft is renowned for its efficiency, performance, and reliability, making it an attractive option for airlines worldwide. We are confident that this aircraft will provide significant value to our customers as they continue their operations.”

According to data from planespotters.net, Spirit currently boasts a fleet of 212 total aircraft with 5 A321neo planes on order. The airline has 64 A320ceos and 30 A321ceos, both older versions of the A320 and A321 aircraft models, respectively. 
 

$80 Million Cost-Cutting Plan

Over the past year, Spirit has struggled heavily with finances ever since a federal judge blocked its $3.8 billion merger deal with JetBlue Airways in January of this year. Notably, however, earlier this week Spirit was reported to have been exploring options to reopen merger talks with fellow ultra-low-cost carrier, Frontier Airlines.

In addition to selling $519 million worth of aircraft, Spirit also mentioned an $80 million cost-cutting plan for 2025. In a regulatory filing, the airline said “These cost reductions are driven primarily by a reduction in workforce commensurate with the company’s expected flight volume.”

Looking to the winter of 2024, the company expects a 20% reduction in capacity compared to the same time last year. In 2025, capacity is expected to fall by double-digits, most likely partly due to the sale of 11% of its fleet. 

In addition, in August and early September of 2024, Spirit announced pilot furloughs and offered voluntary unpaid leaves to flight attendants to save money. Spirit also recently received a deadline extension to refinance some of its debt, delaying a bankruptcy filing for now.