NEW YORK, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Spirit Airlines, the biggest U.S. budget airline, said on Monday it has filed for bankruptcy protection and will attempt to reboot as it struggles to recover from the pandemic-caused swoon in travel and a failed attempt to sell the airline to JetBlue.
Spirit has lost more than 2.5 billion U.S. dollars since the start of 2020 and faces looming debt payments totaling more than 1 billion dollars over the next year, according to The Associated Press.
Spirit said it expects to operate as normal as it works its way through a prearranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy process and that customers can continue to book and fly without interruption. All tickets, credits and loyalty points remain valid, the airline said, as are affiliated credit cards and other membership perks.
Shares of Spirit Airlines Inc., based in Miramar, Florida, dropped 25 percent on Friday, after The Wall Street Journal reported that the airline was discussing terms of a possible bankruptcy filing with its bondholders. It was just the latest in a series of blows that have sent the stock crashing down by 97 percent since late 2018, when Spirit was still making money. ■