Update on Spirit Airlines’ Bankruptcy

Spirit Flight Attendants,

Several days ago, management sent us a letter indicating that they would be seeking changes to our contract under Section 1113 of the bankruptcy code. As we mentioned before, when a company is in bankruptcy, they are able to petition the bankruptcy court to open our contract and ask the court to make changes without our ratification.

In an effort to avoid that, over the past several days, we have been in active negotiations with management. We are now up against a tight deadline tomorrow to agree to cost savings under our Collective Bargaining Agreement with management. By agreeing in principle to concessions with the company by tomorrow, we avoid the worst of the bankruptcy proceedings that deprive workers of a voice over what our CBA should include. Instead, we are seeking to work with management to identify less impactful alternatives, which would be subject to ratification by all of us. This ensures we all have a voice for the future.

Critically, agreeing in principle by tomorrow’s deadline also ensures the company is able to access additional DIP financing, which provides a cash infusion to the company to help it continue operating. To access that money management must reach an agreement with either us or the pilots by tomorrow’s deadline. To date, management has not reached an agreement with either group. They have publicly stated that they are seeking $100 million in concessions, but we are a much smaller part of that amount.

This has all been happening very quickly and we wanted to briefly update you. To be clear, we will never agree to reduce your base pay or increase your health care costs. We will send another update tomorrow. Please fly safe, look out for each other, and know that we’re all in this together.

Stronger Together, Better Together,

Your AFA Spirit MEC and AFA Legal