The CEO of Spirit Airlines is out, with no replacement. Spirit abruptly announced the immediate departure of CEO Ted Christie this morning. Christie had been with Spirit since 2012 and became CEO five years ago.
There is no successor named – instead there will be an “Office of the President” management-by-committee approach comprised of CFO Fred Cromer, COO John Bendoraitis, and General Counsel Thomas Canfield. No one person is in charge of this sinking ship. When United had to oust Jeff Smisek in the midst of a federal corruption probe, even they were able to hurriedly wrangle Oscar Munoz from their board to step in.
Chief Commercial Officer Matt Klein is also leaving, with Chief Transformation Officer Rana Ghosh named Chief Commercial Officer. The transformation hasn’t actually happened, and Ghosh gets promoted.
Spirit lost $1.2 billion in 2024, with a -22.5% operating margin. They went into bankruptcy in November and exited quickly – without really having a new strategy and while still losing at least $3 million per day. The carrier was taken private by Ken Griffin, PIMCO, and a subsidiary of Franklin Templeton.
The airline still faces Pratt & Whitney engine problems, requiring the grounding of aircraft. They’re squeezed by shifting consumer preferences (willingness to pay more for more premium product), higher costs (labor and airport costs), and major carrier willingness to match them on price.
It’s tough for Spirit to go up-market, of course, because they have the worst brand.
Fight Breaks Out at Atlanta Airport pic.twitter.com/ymo6meyLey
— ATL Uncensored (@ATLUncensored) February 21, 2025
- Woman’s Joyful Run Past A Spirit Airlines Jet Leads to Harsh Takedown at Atlanta Airport
- Spirit Airlines Denied Boarding To A Passenger In Atlanta, So The Passenger Went Berserk
- Spirit Airlines Shuts Boarding Door To Block Rowdy Passengers After 5 Hour Delay
Robert Milton, Spirit’s Chairman, had kind words to say about Christie. But the abrupt nature of the departure and Milton’s inability to have a successor named points to chaos and internal discord. Milton is former CEO of Air Canada, served as United’s Chairman when the airline was terrible, and was nominated by Elliott Management to serve on Southwest’s board helping to dismantle everything good about that carrier.
Oh… to be a ‘fly on the wall’ at the meeting of the Spirit Airlines politburo…
Wow, I get that the Spirit Airlines passenger on the Tarmac was clearly breaking the law (as usual, a mental health crisis), but the Police Officer’s conduct was way out of line. Shoving her that hard on concrete literally and easily could have killed her. The Officer’s job was to apprehend her, not mete out justice in his own eyes.
You make Robert Milton sound like a “leader in transformation” himself, Gary. He’s an expert in transforming successful businesses into unsuccessful ones.
It continually amazes me how many incompetent “leaders” there are out there. Why did anyone pick him for a board position at Spirit?
Wow, the Chairman of Spirit is also on Southwest’s board. Looking forward to the a new Netflix documentary: “How to destroy two airline brands at once (without even trying)”…
Just came out of bankruptcy and still losing $3 million a day, they have no feasable plan to profitability despite the changes they are making, another bankruptcy seems to be in their future or another airline buying them in a merger.
Time to bring in the liquidation firm and be done with it.
@Denver Refugee — I suspect that is ‘in the works’ and not only for Spirit, these days. The irony is that unlike during the pandemic, it doesn’t seem like the administration, Congress, the Fed, or anyone is coming in to rescue any company or individuals this time around. Now, that said, I don’t think any of the ‘macro’ issues lead to Spirit’s demise–naw, they had that coming themselves. Bah!
The irony is that in 6-12 months, Spirit’s business model may once again be amongst the most successful in the business! In a recession, people tend to prefer those “bare fares” over premium options, at least if they travel at all.
@jamesb2147 — Yeah, the more likely outcome is that most won’t ‘travel at all.’ But, hey, as Gary posted a little while ago, think of all the deals!
Totally unrelated, but is that a *bear* over there? …Oh, no, sorry, it’s just the market.
Going to be hard to travel internationally when Americans get PNG’d from every civilized country in the world. And domestic travel might go back to the good old-fashioned road trip, especially after oil prices drop due to demand destruction.
Even in a recession, when bare bones look luxurious, it dosent fix their cost problem. They would have to convince ALPA & AFA to give back their raises AND give concessions.
I’m not sure that can happen.
I’ve never flow Spirit, although I did consider it one time last year. At this rate I may never do so.
@Denver Refugee — It’s ironic that you mention the concept of ‘persona non grata’ as we, Americans, have not really experienced that ‘officially’ yet, in most places; whereas, the Russians and/or Israelis, for different reasons, of course, may have more in-common with us, in that regard, soon enough.
@Eric — So, you ironically pointed out why unions are ‘great’ for workers. Let’s remember that for the next time someone bashes unions on here. Where’s @Mike P at these days? Anyway, I know what you meant, and yes, that’s going to be a real issue for the company, but the (mis)management should have planned for that–let’s not blame the workers.
@jamesb2147 ,
That’s exactly right. Robert Milton was one of the worst CEOs Air Canada has had in a while.
Spirit seems to have little chance of surviving as a standalone and the acquisition by Frontier would have at least been a lifeline for awhile. (Not even sure Frontier will make it long term). But management seemed more interested in keeping your jobs.
As far as a “recession.” If, and it’s a doubtful if, government doesn’t come in with helicopter cash for the masses the ULCC will hurt the most. There’s more cost to traveling than just the airfare. But again I think it will be like COVID people at the bottom making more unemployed and immediately spending that money.
I hear a giant sucking sound coming from Spirit’s boardroom as its spiral down the drain speeds up…
If Spirit fails, any bets on what happens at FLL? Who fills the gap?
It’s hard to imagine a turnaround without clear leadership or a new strategic direction. The committee approach may hold things together for now, but it won’t inspire much investor — or passenger — confidence.
@George N Romey — I’m checking the ‘radar,’ and I don’t see any ‘helicopters’ coming in, for anyone… so, if things do go that way, you’re absolutely right, Spirit, Frontier, probably one of the ‘big three’ will be in-trouble, soon enough. The question is, are these CEOs, like Mr. Christie, getting pushed out, or are they literally abandoning ship!
As you to your subtle disparagement of the ‘unemployed’ and less-fortunate, oof, c’mon, they barely get a pittance as it is, and this administration will do whatever they can do deny them that. Perhaps, your comment suggests more so that the current minimum wage should be raised, not that that any government assistance is some ‘moral failing.’ In fact, we need ‘safety net’ programs for times exactly like these. Because it really isn’t about ‘hard work’ verses ‘laziness’ anymore–no, the system is failing; there simply won’t be any jobs for people who need, want, and can do them. We’ve got some real problems on our hands here.
No retention bonus for the CEO. That’s $3.8M in savings!!!
A classic “Prisoner’s Dilemma” scenario – The first airline to liquidate might actually be able to recoup some value; the subsequent ones not so much.
If I were the betting sort, “probably one of the ‘big three'” would be American.
@Denver Refugee — Excellent reference! It is good to be a student of game theory, these days, especially. Sadly, it seems we’ve lost our ability to cooperate; we may all end up worse off as a result.
Milton couldn’t possibly be Chairman of Spirit and be on the Board at Southwest, could he? That seems impossible. I would even think it’s illegal. That’s an unsolvable conflict-of-interest.
Regardless, this is obviously very bad news for Spirit. Who do they even have now to try to negotiate a deal with Frontier? The Board? I would think that countdown clock on their existence is ticking.
Just to correct some misinformation, Robert Milton is NOT on Southwests BOD.
https://www.southwestairlinesinvestorrelations.com/corporate-governance/board-of-directors
I spoke to a Frontier station manager a month ago who was with a contracted station and he was loose lipped about just having been to a corporate meeting in Denver the week before and said Frontier management said despite the lip service and statements to the contrary, negotiations with Spirit were still active and they considered it just a matter of time. Whether they can absorb Spirit effectively is a matter of great debate but it’s definitely the only option now. No CEO solves the prior issue of a merger. More of a take over coming this time.