Spirit Airlines sells planes, recalls furloughed flight attendants

Spirit Airlines, trying to emerge from its second bankruptcy in less than a year, sold another 20 of its Airbus planes and is furloughing flight attendants.

The sale of the 20 planes, most of which are not in service, comes as Spirit tries to stabilize after years of financial struggles that have executives scrambling to keep the airline alive.

“At this time, natural attrition and voluntary actions are providing the flexibility needed to adjust our staffing levels for both pilots and flight attendants,” Spirit Chief Operating Officer John Bendoraitis said in a note to employees Wednesday evening.

The sales bring Spirit's fleet to 94 aircraft and are “consistent with our plan to focus on our strongest routes and most efficient fleet,” Bendoraitis said. The plane will be phased out starting in April, he said.

Talks with investment firm Castlelake and low-cost airline Frontier Airlines have not resulted in a deal that gives Spirit a path forward, although the airline could forge a plan of its own.

The Dania Beach, Florida-based airline is also calling 500 flight attendants back from leave, just as it prepares for the spring break travel season.

“Fixing this airline is a shared effort,” Bendoraitis said. “There are many things right now that the crews cannot control, but we need them to continue to provide us with the foundation for a solid operation.”

Spirit has trimmed its network and fleet and laid off more than 1,300 flight attendants and hundreds of pilots to save money.

“This is good news for 500 flight attendants and their families and critical for those of us on the line who have faced a grueling operation for the past two months,” the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, Spirit's flight attendant union, said in a message to its members Wednesday. “The company's goal in retiring flight attendants is to alleviate some of the operational issues from furloughs.”