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Catch a glimpse of those Spirit Airlines baggage tags—yes, the ones you’re probably praying won’t end up in New Jersey when you’re headed to Jamaica—spotted lounging near a check-in counter at Austin-Bergstrom Airport. This is what chaos looks like!
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Spirit Airlines shares took off on Friday—no airplane required!—as the beleaguered budget airline triumphantly announced it would be performing some seriously dramatic life choices by shedding employees and auctioning off its aging fleet. Talk about spring cleaning in the unlikeliest of places! The result? A jubilant 16% surge in stock price, ending the day at a heart-stopping $2.79 per share. So, sign up for those budget airline alerts; you might just get a price drop on your flight that won’t break the bank… by a whole 79 cents!
The carrier, unveiling its latest plot twist late Thursday, revealed plans to offset its financial struggles by selling 23 of its older Airbus beauties for a sweet Total of $519 million. That’s enough cash to buy… what? A lifetime supply of peanuts? And just to milk the situation for all it’s worth, they’ve promised to snip costs by about $80 million, majorly thanks to job cuts. Consider it a lean, mean flying machine!
Just last week, in a daring game of financial limbo, our heroes at Spirit decided to delay a deadline for refinancing over $1 billion of debt—yes, that’s billion with a *B*—until late December. What a generous gift to their credit card processor! It’s like asking for more time to pay off your holiday shopping bills. They have struggled to regain profitability post-pandemic, thanks to the whimsical whims of travel demand and unreliable aircraft—thanks for that, unreliable Pratt & Whitney engines!
But let’s not get too giddy; even with that Friday spike, Spirit’s share value has plummeted more than 80% this year, thanks to a judge declaring “no thanks” to its planned romance with JetBlue Airways.
Meanwhile, Spirit Airlines jets sit on the tarmac, contemplating their life choices at Fort Lauderdale. Are they pondering retirement? Or contemplating a comeback? Only they know!
Joe Cavaretta | South Florida Sun-sentinel | Getty Images
In some good news that feels almost too good to be true, Spirit mentioned it might be reducing its workforce but didn’t actually reveal how many unlucky souls will be packing their bags. It hinted that its 2025 capacity would be down somewhere in the mid-teens percentage range compared to this year—so get ready for your carry-on! After all, with a recent furlough of about 200 pilots in September, the rights to the ‘Chief Pilot’ title are surely dwindling! Flight attendants might consider themselves fortunate, statistically speaking, since so many crew members have chosen the noble path of voluntary leave. Lucky, lucky them!
As if that wasn’t enough excitement, it’s rumored that Spirit and Frontier Airlines are reviving merger discussions. Will they tie the knot over budget fares? Or will it be another awkward dinner date that ends in tears? They aren’t talking, but we’re all ears!
In a fitting end to this rollercoaster of news, Spirit is projecting a third-quarter negative operating margin of 24.5%—better than expected… just barely. They even revised their previous doom-and-gloom forecast of a negative 29%. Way to go, Spirit! A toast to small victories in the absurd world of corporate finances!
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