Spirit Airlines stock jumps 25% after struggling budget carrier says it will sell planes, cut jobs

Spirit Airlines Shares rose after the struggling budget carrier said it would cut jobs and sell aircraft.

Late Thursday the carrier laid out a plan to cut costs and raise cash by selling 23 older Airbus planes. That sale will bring in $519 million, Spirit said in a securities filing.

It also said it would cut costs by about $80 million, mostly through job cuts.

Last week the airline again delayed the deadline to refinance more than $1 billion in debt until the end of December, giving it breathing room with credit card processors.

Spirit has struggled to return to profitability in the wake of the pandemic, facing changes in travel demand and dozens of groundings. Pratt & Whitney manned aircraft

Even with Friday's jump, Spirit's shares have fallen more than 80% this year after a judge blocked its planned acquisition. JetBlue Airways.

Spirit did not immediately comment on how many employees it would cut but said its 2025 capacity would be in the mid-teens percentage point range compared to this year. It began furloughing about 200 pilots in September. According to the company, flight attendants are “in good shape” because many crew members took voluntary leaves of absence.

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Spirit and Frontier Airlines Merger talks have revived, sending shares higher. The airline did not immediately comment. The two budget airlines had a merger deal that derailed JetBlueApril 2022 offer for direct purchase of spirits.

Late Thursday, Spirit forecast a third-quarter negative operating margin of 24.5%, better than its previous estimate of a negative 29% margin for the three-month period.