NEW YORK (Reuters) – Spirit Airlines on Thursday said it will furlough 365 pilots and downgrade the status of up to 170 pilots in the first quarter of 2026 as it takes additional steps to revamp its workforce as part of its restructuring efforts.
After the ultra-low-cost airline filed for bankruptcy for the second time in a year in August, Spirit said its business plan to return to profitability in 2027 requires the company to reduce its network in 2026.
“As part of our ongoing restructuring, we are taking additional steps to align staffing across our organization with our previously announced capacity reduction and smaller operating fleet size,” the company said in a statement.
Spirit Airlines plans to shrink its fleet by nearly 100 aircraft and will reject its commitment to buy 52 Airbus planes along with its options for 10 others.
The company said it also plans to make volume-based staffing adjustments across its maintenance stations and will close its maintenance stations and warehouse operations in Baltimore and Chicago effective January 1, 2026.
The company has previously furloughed about 330 pilots and plans to furlough another 270 pilots in November. It has also decided to furlough approximately 1,800 flight attendants, about one-third of its cabin crew, effective December 1.
Spirit said in a filing that the furloughs are expected to save the company $211 million in costs.
(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago and Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; editing by Diane Craft and Deepa Babington)
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