Spirit Airlines is suspending around 40 routes in its November schedule, the airline said in a memo sent to Spirit staff and seen by Airline Economics on Monday (September 29).
The cuts come amid the airline's ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring — its second in under a year.
“We are suspending approximately 40 routes to focus on our strongest markets,” Spirit Airline SVP and chief commercial officer Rana Ghosh said in the memo.
“These network adjustments include multiple routes that are seasonal or only operate on certain days of the week.”
After reducing its presence at both Hartford and Minneapolis, the airline will discontinue services to these airports on October 31 and December 1, respectively. Ghosh said these decisions were “difficult”.
“We'll continue to make our routine schedule and network adjustments, but do not anticipate any additional airports exits in the near future,” he said.
The airline announced last week that it was reducing its November schedule capacity by 25%, as well as furloughing 1,800 flight attendants.
In the same memo, Ghosh named Andrea Lusso as the airline's new vice president of network planning.
Lusso most recently served as the principal for supply chain and network design at Amazon Air — Amazon's cargo airline, which is typically branded as ‘Prime Air’, in line with the e-commerce brand's subscription service.
Lusso had started his aviation career at Spirit, serving as a flight operations and safety intern. He would go on to build his career at low-cost carrier JetBlue, eventually serving as vice president, enterprise planning.
Last week, in a bankruptcy court document, it was revealed Spirit had reached a tentative agreement with AerCap to reduce a number of its leased aircraft with the lessor.
Spirit operates an all-Airbus fleet, primarily consisting of the A320 family jet. Out of 214 of the airline’s operating fleet, 166 are leased aircraft, with AerCap being its largest lessor. The filing did not detail the number of aircraft that will be reduced from the fleet.
The deal will also see AerCap inject Spirit with a “significant” liquidity infusion. Spirit said the cash provided will allow it to continue operations while implementing its business plan and fleet rationalisation process.
Additionally, sale and leaseback agreements for 36 undelivered Airbus A320neo family aircraft, which were scheduled to be delivered between 2027 and 2028, have been terminated. The lessor will retain full rights to the aircraft, allowing them to be re-leased at potentially higher rates.
Spirit emerged from its initial Chapter 11 restructuring in March, intending to move ahead under its premium rebrand.