While this announcement comes before the busiest travel weekend, Thanksgiving, the airline assured its customers that the tickets they booked are still active and future fares will also be. Spirit’s employees are also “continuing to be paid and honored,” according to the airline.
“This set of transactions will materially strengthen our balance sheet and position Spirit for the future while we continue executing on our strategic initiatives to transform our Guest experience, providing new enhanced travel options, greater value and increased flexibility,” Spirit CEO Ted Christie said in a
Spirit made several attempts to right its ship this year. Earlier this summer, it unveiled more travel options, allowing customers to pay for tiered experiences. At the beginning of this year, it went to court against the Justice Department to try to keep its merger with JetBlue alive, but a judge ultimately ruled against the companies. Spirit executives testified that the company had not been profitable since 2019.
“The Defendant Airlines presented no evidence that Spirit was in such a dire financial situation that it had no hope for the future,” Judge William G. Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts wrote in his decision. Instead, Young suggested that there were other buyers on the market instead of JetBlue, but no other offer ever came.Attorneys for the DOJ filed a lawsuit against the merger under the accusation that it would be “eliminating Spirit’s aggressive, disruptive business model.” However, in the quarter since Young ruled against Spirit, it lost another