After filing for bankruptcy for the second time in less than a year, budget airline Spirit Airlines (SAVE) has been making continued cuts to its network operations and various other cost-cutting measures as it looks for what is now looking like an unlikely out of a long string of financial losses.
Last week, the airline announced that it will cut more than 40 routes to different parts of the country and completely exit a number of markets. The two new cities from which Spirit will completely cut service include Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) and Bradley International Airport (BDL) in Connecticut’s Hartford.
This comes after a mid-September memo to employees had already confirmed its exit from more than 10 cities such as Boise and Albuquerque by November and hinted that more job cuts could be in the cards before the end of the year. Approximately 800 flight attendants and 400 pilots have been furloughed since the start of the year while over 1,800 others or a third of its total crew members risk being let go as part of the carrier’s drastic cost-cutting measures.
“We face difficult decisions about our network”: Spirit
“As we work to return Spirit to profitability, we face difficult decisions about our network, our fleet, and ultimately our workforce,” Spirit Chief Operating Office John Bendoraitis wrote in the the staff memo sent out earlier in September.
Flights to Hartford will run until Oct. 31 while the last service out of MSP will take place on Dec. 1; in 2025, the airline flew to the latter city from Detroit, Nashville, Myrtle Beach and Fort Lauderdale while its Minnesota network included routes from Detroit and Atlanta.
“While we previously reduced our presence at these airports, these decisions were still difficult, and we are incredibly grateful for our team members and partners at both stations,” Spirit Chief Commercial Officer Rana Ghosh wrote to employees on the latest round of market exits.
The airline confirmed that anyone with booked travel beyond the service end will be contacted with refund options should one’s fare class not allow one to initiate one directly through the booking.
“We will reach out to those with affected reservations to issue a refund”
“We apologize to our Guests for any inconvenience and will reach out to those with affected reservations to issue a refund,” the airline said in a statement.
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Cities to which Spirit will end service by Oct. 2 include both larger hubs such as Portland, Salt Lake City and San Diego and smaller ones like Chattanooga in Tennessee and Sacramento in California.
Minneapolis and Hartford follow the 11 market exits Spirit announced just a few weeks earlier.
The airline issued a statement saying that it does “not anticipate any additional airport exits in the near future” but the claim has been received with some skepticism given that the airline had previously issued similar statements about both the risk of bankruptcy and layoffs at different points in its path and the restructuring process.
“We are not evaluating a Chapter 11 at this time,” then-CEO Ted Christie said in June 2024 (the airline filed for its first bankruptcy the following November).