In an unusual appeal, the unionized pilots of Spirit Airlines have written to the company’s bondholders to urge them to continue backing the company’s reorganization in bankruptcy court, and to reject a liquidation “that would destroy South Florida’s hometown airline.”
The open letter, written on behalf of the Spirit contingent of the Air Line Pilots Association, comes after the union and management settled on a revised contract late last year that provides economic concessions designed to cut labor costs. A deal was also cut with the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. Between the two agreements, the company is expected to save up to $100 million annually over the next two years.
For the second time in less than a year, the Dania Beach-based budget carrier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August 2025 amid increased competition, a heavy debt load, and a default declaration by its largest aircraft lessor. Since then, the airline’s management has made progress cutting costs by cancelling and renegotiating aircraft leases, revamping its route system and cutting Spirit’s labor costs, among other measures.
It also secured hundreds of millions in operating capital with the blessing of key lenders.
Uncertainty about lenders’ intent
Nonetheless, the Jan. 13 letter signed by Spirit Master Executive Council Chairman Ryan P. Miller and ALPA International President Jason Ambrosi, strongly indicates the union, which represents 2,000 Spirit pilots nationally, is unsure of what course major lenders will take as the bankruptcy case heads toward a conclusion in New York.
The letter, entitled “Protect Jobs; Complete the Restructuring of Spirit Airlines,” appears on the home page of the ALPA website.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson at ALPA headquarters in Washington, D.C., said the union would have no further comment about the pilots’ letter. Spirit also declined comment.
While no date for an eventual exit from Chapter 11 has been proposed formally, creditors have been given until the middle of next month to file with the court whatever claims they may hold against Spirit.
“What remains unresolved is whether its bondholders will honor their existing funding commitments and allow a restructuring to proceed, or whether they will instead force a liquidation that would destroy South Florida’s hometown airline,” the ALPA letter says.
“One of Spirit’s principal bondholders is Citadel, a Miami-based firm with significant influence in this restructuring. Citadel and the other bondholders are in a key position to decide what happens next,” the letter adds. “They have a choice to make — continue funding and allow Spirit’s restructuring to move forward or withhold funding and shutter thousands of jobs leaving a deep void in the South Florida economy.
“With that influence comes responsibility not only to the process, but to the community in which Spirit operates and the thousands of workers whose futures are tied to this airline’s survival,” the letter says. “Access to this funding could mean the difference between an airline that emerges from Chapter 11 and an airline forced into liquidation. The ask is straightforward: fulfill their existing funding commitments and allow the restructuring to move forward.”
“Liquidation would not be just a business outcome,” the letter adds. “It would mean a collapse that would eliminate jobs and permanently disrupt a community. If Spirit is liquidated, thousands of employees will lose their livelihoods. South Florida will lose one of its most important homegrown aviation employers. Families will be displaced. Small businesses connected to travel and aviation will suffer immediate harm. The regional and national ripple effects will be real and long-lasting. A preventable airline shutdown on this scale would also reduce competition in air travel nationwide, leading to fewer choices and higher fares for travelers.”
Despite the fears raised in the letter, the Spirit case file in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York contains no requests to convert the case to a Chapter 7 liquidation. The airline’s lawyers, however, have asked the court to put on hold a shareholder lawsuit filed against management, arguing it could delay the reorganization at a considerable cost to the bankruptcy estate.
On Wednesday, Citadel, which relocated its headquarters from Chicago to Miami in 2022, shared a public statement with the South Florida Sun Sentinel, noting it has been a steady supporter of Spirit’s effort to reorganize.
“The hardship that Spirit Airlines faces is a direct result of the prior [Biden] Administration’s aggressive antitrust agenda and opposition to the Spirit-JetBlue merger in 2024,” the statement says. “That deal would have been in the best interests of employees, passengers, and investors.
“Citadel has consistently supported Spirit both pre- and post- bankruptcy in its efforts to reorganize and return to serving the flying public,” the statement adds. “The creditor group voluntarily approved a third leg of funding as recently as December to guarantee that Americans and their families could travel during the holiday period.”
The law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in New York represents Citadel and other members of “an ad hoc group of secured noteholders” in the Spirit Chapter 11 cases, which involve multiple related entities including the airline.
The Akin firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Bloomberg News, which first reported the pilots’ letter earlier this week, identified other noteholding creditors as Pacific Investment Management Co. and Cyrus Capital Partners of New York and London.