Spirit Airlines will sell 23 Airbus aircraft as part of efforts to remain solvent.
The budget carrier will sell a combination of A320s and A321s for $519 million to Fort Lauderdale-based aviation company GA Telesis, which plans to lease or resell them.
The airline expects to end 2024 with $1 billion in liquidity, down from $1.3 billion at the end of 2023.
Spirit's aircraft sell-off coincides with substantial network cutbacks. In a regulatory filing on Oct. 24, Spirit said that its fourth-quarter capacity will be 20% less than a year earlier. Spirit's third-quarter capacity was down just 1.2% year over year.
Spirit's steep losses in recent years has sparked concerns about a potential Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Spirit and Frontier have revived merger discussions. An acquisition would likely happen as part of a Chapter 11 restructuring.
Spirit and Frontier have declined to comment on the WSJ report.
During the first half of this year, Spirit recorded an operating loss of $360 million following an operating loss of $496 million in 2023.