Business
Spirit Airlines is on shakier ground after avoiding hard decisions in bankruptcy
A Spirit Airlines plane takes off from Oakland International Airport on May 06, 2024 in Oakland, California.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
In March, Spirit Airlines came out of bankruptcy protection in less than four months and entered a worsening landscape. Consumers were holding off booking flights and U.S. planes were awash in empty seats. Even the most profitable airlines cut the rosy financial forecasts they had issued at the start of the year.
But Spirit, an airline with bright yellow planes that has become synonymous with budget travel in the U.S., now appears on even shakier ground. Last week, five months after getting out of bankruptcy, Spirit warned it might not be able to survive a year without more cash and that its credit card processor was seeking more collateral.
On Thursday, Spirit said it borrowed the entire $275 million available under its revolver. It also reached a two-year extension on its credit card processing agreement with U.S. Bank National Association to hold back up to $3 million a day.
Industry experts said the airline avoided making hard decisions before or during bankruptcy protection, such as renegotiating aircraft leases or shrinking the carrier altogether. Instead, the airline in bankruptcy reached a deal with bondholders, who exchanged debt for equity.
“It made it that much more unlikely for them to succeed without having tackled some of those issues,” said Joe Rohlena, airline analyst at Fitch Ratings, which downgraded Spirit last Friday, saying the company might be unable to avoid a default because of its cash burn.
Bankruptcy attorney Brett Miller, U.S. co-chair of the restructuring department at Willkie Farr & Gallagher who represented the creditors’ committee, said Spirit “didn’t use the tools available to them in Chapter 11” for bigger changes.
Spirit had forecast a net profit of $252 million this year, according to a court filing from December. But its report last week said it instead lost nearly $257 million since March 13, after it exited Chapter 11 through the end of June.
Shares of Spirit Aviation Holdings have dropped close to 58% since its “going concern” warning earlier this month. The stock of other airlines rallied after the cautionary statement. About 10% of Spirit’s seats are on routes with no competition, according to Courtney Miller of Visual Approach Analytics, an aviation research firm.
Signs of strain are showing. Aircraft lessors have reached out to competitor airline executives in recent weeks asking if they would take any of Spirit’s roughly 200 Airbus aircraft, according to people familiar with the matter.
Aviation analytics firm IBA’s chief economist, Stuart Hatcher, said he would have expected Spirit to be more proactive on dealing with aircraft leases during bankruptcy.
“If they’re able to strip 10% of all of their lease rates, that would have had a huge impact on cash flow,” he said.
This doesn’t mean the end of the line for Spirit.
“There’s a lot of incentive to keep airlines alive because there’s a lot of constituencies that would be hurt badly” like employees, consumers and others, said James Sprayregen, vice chairman of financial services company Hilco Global who represented United Airlines and TWA airlines in their respective bankruptcies.
Selling assets
Even before bankruptcy, Spirit had embarked on a project to sell more upmarket products like roomier seats or bundled fares that include seat assignments and baggage, to better compete with larger rivals that have enjoyed a windfall from big-spending customers post-pandemic.
More recently, the carrier has said it is seeking to sell assets like planes, leases and real estate to raise cash. It has also reduced some of its unprofitable flying and last year had announced job cuts and aircraft sales last year to cut costs and raise cash.
Spirit CEO Dave Davis told employees in a memo last week that the changes the Dania Beach, Florida-based company is making “will continue to provide consumers the unmatched value that they have come to expect for many years to come.”
Spirit declined to comment on whether it would file for bankruptcy again or whether lessors are trying to remarket its planes.
“We will not comment on market rumors and speculation,” Spirit said in an emailed statement. “Spirit Airlines is a critical part of the U.S. aviation industry, and we provide high-value travel options to the communities we serve. We have saved consumers hundreds of millions of dollars, whether they fly with us or not. Our focus is on making the necessary changes to better position the company and build a stronger airline. We remain hard at work on many initiatives to protect our business, valued Team Members, partners and Guests.”
Travelers wheel luggage toward Spirit Airlines check-in desk at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023, in Houston.
Jason Fochtman | Houston Chronicle | Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images
IBA’s Hatcher said it’s getting to be the wrong time of year — the low season, after the peak summer and before the winter holidays — to place aircraft with other airlines, though pricing has been firm. It’s been even stronger for spare Pratt & Whitney engines. The engines for Airbus A321neos that Spirit uses are renting for $15.8 million a month, up about 50% from 2019, according to IBA data.
But some warn that even deep cuts can’t always turn an airline around.
“You have no place to sleep if you burn your bed,” said Brett Snyder, founder of the Cranky Flier travel website, author of a weekly airline industry network analysis and a former airline manager.
Meanwhile, the carrier already plans to furlough hundreds of more pilots, and both aviators’ and flight attendant unions are bracing employees for worse news ahead.
“Spirit is in a fragile financial position, likely more so than at any point in the previous 24 months,” the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents Spirit’s roughly 5,400 cabin crew members, said in a note to the members on Aug. 12, after Spirit’s warning. “Use this time to assess your financial situation and begin strategizing how best to weather the financial impact that flying cutbacks may have on your household.”
Hundreds of its flight attendants have already taken temporary leaves of absence, which allowed them to keep medical benefits.
Rough few years
Spirit has faced other challenges leading up to its bankruptcy filing last year.
A Pratt & Whitney engine recall grounded many of its aircraft starting in 2023. That same year it reached a deal to merge with fellow budget carrier Frontier Airlines, but shareholders rejected the deal in favor of an all-cash takeover by JetBlue Airways that was ultimately shot down in a federal antitrust case, leaving both carriers on their own.
Frontier was in merger discussions with Spirit last year just before Spirit’s bankruptcy filing, but those talks fell apart.
“They’ve squandered every opportunity to make everything work,” Snyder said.
An oversupply of domestic flights also drove down airfare in recent years, prompting the industry to cut back capacity, and the trend was especially punishing for U.S.-focused carriers. Those low-fare carriers had another problem when wages went up in the wake of the pandemic, upending their low-cost model.
“I think there may have been a bit of optimism on their part in terms of kind of the strategic reset that they had planned,” said Fitch’s Rohlena. “That then came face-to-face with a harder, harsher aviation environment.”
Business
Stock Market News Live Updates: Sensex Down Over 1,000 Points, Nifty Below 24,900; India VIX Jumps Nearly 20%
Nifty, Sensex Stock Market Today Live Updates: Indian benchmark indices continued their downward trajectory on Monday, tracking weak global cues as geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran escalated.
As of 11:00 AM, the Sensex was trading 1.34 per cent, or 1,086.02 points, lower at 80,201.17, while the Nifty50 declined 1.31 per cent, or 350.55 points, to 24,828.10. Shares of Larsen & Toubro, InterGlobe Aviation and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone were among the biggest laggards in the Nifty 50 index.
Broader market indices also traded in the red, with the Nifty MidCap and Nifty SmallCap indices falling 0.93 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively. Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Auto was the worst performer, sliding more than 2 per cent as shares of Maruti Suzuki India and Mahindra & Mahindra came under pressure.
On the other hand, the Nifty Metal index declined the least, making it the relatively best-performing sectoral index in early trade despite the overall weak market sentiment.
Global Cues
Over the weekend, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior officials were killed in a joint US-Israel military operation. The conflict appears set to intensify, with US President Donald Trump vowing to retaliate after American servicemen were killed in Iran’s counterattacks, according to agency reports.
Asian markets tumbled in early Monday trade. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s Kospi dropped as much as 2.7% and 2.43%, respectively.
On Sunday, US stock futures declined more than 1% after the strikes on Iran. Both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were reported to have fallen 1.11% each.
During the Asia session, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures and S&P 500 futures were down 0.6% and 0.54%, respectively.
In commodities, oil prices surged amid rising concerns over supply disruptions in the key producing region. Brent crude futures jumped 13.76% to $82.37 per barrel — the highest level since January 2025 — according to Bloomberg data.
Gold and silver futures rose more than 1% as investors turned to safe-haven assets.
Business
Labour parliamentarians urge UK Government to oppose Rosebank oil field
Labour MPs are among a group of more than 60 parliamentarians to have made public their opposition to the planned Rosebank oil field – with one of Sir Keir Starmer’s backbenchers urging the Government to rule against the development and take a stand “against Trump, Reform and their fossil fuel paymasters”.
Clive Lewis is one of more than 50 MPs at Westminster who have signed a pledge from campaign group Uplift to “oppose the Rosebank oil field” and instead “advocate for a properly funded just transition for oil and gas workers and communities”.
Urging the Government to reject the development, Norwich South MP Mr Lewis said: “We must stand our ground against Trump, Reform and their fossil fuel paymasters.
“Approving an enormous new oil field would mean caving in to their anti-climate, anti-renewables agenda that runs completely counter to our values and our long-term interests.”
Scottish Labour MP Chris Murray, another of the Labour MPs to have signed the pledge, said the decision on Rosebank was “an opportunity for the Government to change course”.
It comes as the UK Government continues to consider whether the development of the oil field can go ahead – with Labour now under mounting pressure after the loss of the Gorton and Denton by-election to the Greens on Thursday.
Rosebank, which lies about 80 miles west of Shetland, is the UK’s largest untapped field, containing up to an estimated 300 million barrels of oil.
Drilling there was approved by the Conservative government in 2023 but was then subject to a legal challenge in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling which said the emissions created from burning fossil fuels should be considered when granting permission for new sites.
Now the decision on whether it can proceed lies with Labour ministers – with some 16 Labour MPs having made plain their opposition to the development.
The group includes Mr Lewis, Mr Murray, former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell and Scottish Labour’s Brian Leishman.
Former Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott have also signed the pledge, along with a number of Liberal Democrat and Green MPs, SNP MP Chris Law, Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts and Paul Maskey of Sinn Fein.
In Scotland a number of Labour MSPs have signed the pledge, along with Green MSPs – including the party’s Scottish co-leader Ross Greer – and former SNP health secretary Michael Matheson.
While previous Scottish first ministers Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf made plain their opposition to Rosebank, First Minister John Swinney has insisted the Scottish Government takes a “case-by-case approach” to new oil and gas developments, stressing these should only proceed if found to be compatible with climate change targets.
Mr Lewis said opposing Rosebank would “show that a Labour Government will stand by the promises we made to the country”.
He added: “There are only so many times we can afford to make mistakes and then change course.
“With Rosebank, we have an opportunity to get it right the first time.”
Mr Murray, the Labour MP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, said many locals in his constituency were “deeply concerned about Rosebank and rightly so”.
He added: “Climate change is one of the reasons I came into politics, and opening new oil and gas fields is simply incompatible with our climate commitments.
“With the North Sea’s oil supply dwindling, Scotland’s energy sector must transition to clean energy, or workers risk being left behind.”
Scottish Labour MSP Mercedes Villalba, who has also signed the pledge, argued that “approving projects like Rosebank will lock us into a toxic dependence on volatile, conflict-ridden fossil fuels”.
This would create “another excuse to delay the urgent investment needed to create secure, well-paid jobs for Scotland’s workers”, she added.
Ms Villalba said: “In an increasingly uncertain world, where climate action is relegated in favour of fossil politics, the UK and Scotland must lead the way on the clean energy transition.”
Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, said people in her constituency and across the country “are already facing the consequences of an increasingly unstable climate”.
Highlighting the impact of flooding and “skyrocketing food prices”, she said that “climate impacts are now a daily reality”.
Ms Hobhouse said: “Extreme weather is damaging crops, putting pressure on farmers, and destroying our precious natural environment.
“We cannot ignore these warning signs.
“A massive new oil field like Rosebank would only make matters worse.
“The emissions would be enormous, locking us into decades more pollution when we should be cutting carbon and unlocking the benefits of cheap, renewable energy.”
Approving the Rosebank development would “make a mockery of Labour’s environmental promises”, she said.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “Our priority is to deliver a fair, orderly and prosperous transition in the North Sea in line with our climate and legal obligations, which drives our clean energy future of energy security, lower bills, and good long-term jobs.”
Business
UK social media ban for under 16s consultation begins
Discussions over what measures to implement to protect children’s wellbeing will last for three months.
Source link
-
Politics1 week agoPakistan carries out precision strikes on seven militant hideouts in Afghanistan
-
Business1 week agoEye-popping rise in one year: Betting on just gold and silver for long-term wealth creation? Think again! – The Times of India
-
Tech1 week agoThese Cheap Noise-Cancelling Sony Headphones Are Even Cheaper Right Now
-
Sports1 week agoKansas’ Darryn Peterson misses most of 2nd half with cramping
-
Sports1 week agoHow James Milner broke Premier League’s appearances record
-
Entertainment1 week agoSaturday Sessions: Say She She performs "Under the Sun"
-
Sports1 week ago
Mike Eruzione and the ‘Miracle on Ice’ team are looking for some company
-
Entertainment1 week agoViral monkey Punch makes IKEA toy global sensation: Here’s what it costs
