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In the midst of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, Spirit Airlines is cutting roughly 200 jobs to reduce costs.
“We are executing on plans to rightsize our organization to align with our current fleet size and level of flying and ultimately optimize our airline,” the ultra-low-cost carrier said in a statement shared with CNBC (CMCSA+0.15%). “After reviewing our organizational structure, we have made the difficult decision to eliminate approximately 200 positions from various departments across the airline.”
Spirit did not immediately respond to Quartz’s request for comment.
The struggling airline filed for bankruptcy protection in November, allowing it to restructure and reduce some of its debts. Spirit failed to regain its footing after a series of failed merger attempts, including renewed talks of a potential combination with Frontier Airlines (ULCC-0.91%) as part of a last-ditch effort to avoid bankruptcy.
In February 2022, the two airlines had announced a $2.9 billion definitive merger agreement. That deal fell apart in July of that year.
Discussions between Spirit and Frontier dovetailed with another failed attempt at merging with JetBlue (JBLU-1.75%). That deal also crumbled when a federal judge blocked the merger over concerns that the combination of the two budget airlines would be anti-competitive. Spirit and JetBlue called off their $3.8 billion deal last March.
Under a prearranged agreement with its bondholders under the Chapter 11 process, Spirit received an additional $300 million in debtor-in-possession financing, which allowed it to continue operating while it completes the restructuring.
The company previously said it expects to complete the bankruptcy process by the end of the first quarter of 2025.
“While we will continue to identify additional operational efficiencies, these efforts, along with our recent Pilot furloughs, achieve our previously announced target of $80 million of annualized cost reductions,” Spirit said. “These decisions are never made lightly, and we are committed to treating all impacted Team Members with the utmost care and respect.”