Spirit Airlines' remaining Airbus fleet sold for $421 million in bankruptcy wind-down
A bankruptcy court has approved the sale of 27 Airbus narrowbodies formerly operated by Spirit Airlines, raising $421 million as the carrier's estate liquidates assets. Engine lessor FTAI Aviation bought four of the jets.
Airbus A320 (all variants)Airbus A321 (all variants)
A package of 27 Airbus jets from Spirit Airlines has sold for $421 million in cash, the largest single disposal yet in the wind-down of the carrier's estate. Spirit stopped flying in May.
Most of the narrowbodies go to a group of former Spirit bondholders. Four older A321s went to FTAI Aviation, an engine lessor, for $101 million in cash. A judge signed off on the deal on 23 September, according to paperwork filed in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
The bondholder group's offer served as a stalking horse bid, setting a price floor and leaving room for rival offers. No competing bid met the requirements, and the auction was called off.
The jets still up for the bondholder purchase sit with holders of "SuperB" enhanced equipment trust certificate notes. Some $150 million of those notes were issued in 2025 during Spirit's first Chapter 11 case and rank alongside other aircraft-backed debt totalling $668 million. The SuperB designation places those holders ahead of investors in riskier, higher-yield B debt.
The aircraft, a mix of A320s and A321s, are parked in desert storage in Arizona. They are expected to be sold on to other operators or taken by lessors. Broken into smaller lots, they could fetch more than the current price, with demand for narrowbody jets strong worldwide.
Spirit's estate has auctioned assets since August. Office space in South Florida brought $98.3 million from real estate buyers, and take-off and landing slots at LaGuardia in New York went to JetBlue for $58.5 million.
Sources
- flightglobal.comSpirit Airlines’ final Airbus aircraft sold in $421 million bankruptcy deal