Spirit Airlines Pilot Furloughs Canceled; ALPA Details Intervention

Spirit Airlines has canceled previously announced and pending furloughs of up to 365 pilots, which were scheduled to take effect Jan. 31, 2026.

The number of captain downgrades to first officer was also reduced from 170 to 25. The update was announced on Dec. 5 by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).

Spirit confirmed the details but did not comment further. The carrier had announced pilot furloughs in July and October, and flight attendant furloughs in September, moves it said were made to align crew with projected flight volumes. The South Florida-based ULCC is shrinking its fleet, network and costs, as it works its way through a repeat restructuring.

Cancellation of the furloughs came after “detailed staffing analysis” conducted by the Spirit Airlines Master Executive Council (MEC), ALPA said.

“After reviewing the Company’s staffing model in detail, the MEC concluded that the assumptions used in the Company’s October announcement were no longer accurate,” the pilots union detailed. “Through a series of direct, candid discussions with management, we pressed that point: their attrition model was outdated, and the business case supporting large-scale furloughs simply did not align with current data.”

While noting that Spirit’s long-term viability “still demands arduous work and difficult choices, ALPA called the outcome, “a significant step in the right direction.”

Meanwhile, “involuntary” furloughs of 1,300 flight attendants began at midnight on Dec. 1, less than the 1,800 initially announced by the carrier after union officials “successfully pushed management to increase the number of voluntary personal furloughs (VPF),” explained the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA in late October. “Thanks to these Flight Attendants, we were able to reduce the involuntary furloughs.”

Spirit is now three months into its latest Chapter 11 restructuring process, having filed for the protection on Aug. 29, five months removed from its last. In early November, it reached agreements-in-principle with both unions representing its pilots and flight attendants to amend their collective bargaining agreements.

Spirit’s senior leadership also committed to taking a comparable salary reduction, the carrier said.