Spirit Airlines Sells Final Aircraft Portfolio For $668 Million

Spirit Airlines has received bankruptcy court approval to sell its final major portfolio of 27 aircraft for $668 million, nearly five months after it stopped flying. Most of the planes are going to a company controlled by Spirit’s aircraft lenders. The $668 million total price for the planes doesn’t mean the bankruptcy estate receives that cash. They’re applying part of what Spirit owes them toward the price of the aircraft. On Wednesday, September 23, bankruptcy judge Sean Lane approved two deals covering 10 Airbus A320ceos and 17 A321ceos: Save 2026-B LLC gets 23 aircraft for $567.4 million. That’s 10 A320s and 13 A321s. The buyer is a vehicle controlled by holders of Spirit’s aircraft equipment notes (debt secured by the planes). FTAI Aircraft Leasing Bermuda (2026) Ltd. gets four A321s for $100.7 million cash. It’s an affiliate of FTAI Aviation. These are N661NK, N665NK, N670NK and N671NK. The 23-aircraft sale order and four-aircraft sale order put the combined price at $668,129,000. These are the older engine generation of Airbus narrowbodies, built between 2015 and 2018 and powered by International Aero Engines V2500s. The buyers get the airframes, two engines per aircraft, equipment and records, in as-is condition. Spirit did still own planes. In fact, when they filed their second bankruptcy case in August 2025, they owned 48 aircraft and leased 166. However, they were mortgaged. The 27 sold here were financed through enhanced equipment trust certificates. 20 planes had already received approval for sale to CSDS Asset Management, while a July sale motion identified one additional mortgaged aircraft to be liquidated separately. But this is the final major portfolio. After Spirit stopped passenger operations on May 2, the court approved rejection of the remaining aircraft leases effective May 8. There was a substantial effort to find other buyers. According to financial adviser Marc Bilbao’s September 22 declaration, Spirit’s advisers contacted 137 prospective buyers. Forty expressed interest, and eight groups submitted bids for some or all of the aircraft. Only FTAI submitted a qualifying bid that beat the lenders’ offer, and only for the four A321s. The lenders declined to bid more for those planes. After two postponements, Spirit cancelled the auction and asked the judge to approve the split sale. Topics on this page