Spirit Airlines Unions Want What Trump Wants: ‘Lend Us Some Money Now’

In the Spirit bankruptcy, labor unions and President Trump are both calling for financing to save the airline.

However, Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, which represents about 5,000 Spirit flight attendants, said Tuesday in an interview that Trump should move quickly to implement that financing he says he wants.

“There is no evidence that Trump is pushing for this,” Nelson said. “If he were, it would be done. He should do it now. It would be a done deal.

“The main point here is that 19.000 people will lose their jobs and their health care immediately,” were Spirit to shut down, Nelson said. ” Other airlines would pick up the pieces, but without responsibility to the workers.”

AFA is the only union on the creditors committee for the Spirit bankruptcy. Some bondholders, also on the committee, have been skeptical about federal assistance. The Spirit piece with the most value to other airlines is a package of 44 slots at LaGuardia, which enable 22 takeoffs and landings.

Counts of Spirit employees vary. The 19,000 figure includes direct employees, contract employees and furloughed employees. Today, the airline employs about 9,500 workers. The AFA represents 3,000 active flight attendants and 2,000 flight attendants who have been furloughed.

Trump has made several statements indicating support for Spirit’s continued operation. On CNBC on April 21, he answered a question about reports of an unlikely American/United merger, saying “I just heard it a few days ago. I know them both very well. I don’t like it, no. I don’t mind mergers. I’d love someone to buy Spirit, as an example. You know Spirit’s in trouble.”

On April 23, Trump said he would consider government purchase of Spirit “if we can get it at the right price.

“Spirit is an airline that has had some trouble,” he said at a press conference. “They have some good aircrafts, some good assets, and when the price of oil goes down, we’d sell it for a profit.”

Trump has a longstanding interest in airlines. In 1989 he bought the Eastern Shuttle for $365 million. In 2011 he told TheStreet that “I ran a great airline.” He negotiated the deal with Frank Lorenzo, who described the negotiations in his 2024 autobiography. Also in 1989, the Miami Herald reported that Lorenzo had solicited Trump to buy Continental. Later that year, Trump bid for American Airlines.

The Trump administration is currently negotiating a rescue deal for Spirit, offering a loan of up to $500 million in return for warrants for a significant stake in the airline, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Separately, a group of budget airlines is seeking $2.5 billion in government aid for equity stakes, the newspaper reported. Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that talks have stalled because a group of lenders, including hedge fund Citadel, disapproves of the loan terms.

The three unions that represent the bulk of Spirit’s employees have all called for government support.

“Federal relief is not a handout,” said Ryan Muller, chair of the Spirit master executive council, in a prepared statement. “It is a loan that will allow the airline to finish the work that is already well underway, and it is the right call for 14,000 workers, nearly 2,000 pilots, the families who depend on those paychecks, and the millions of passengers who rely on affordable air travel.”

Since entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy last August, “Spirit has executed a disciplined restructuring, with $100 million in concessions contributed by its pilots and flight attendants and a restructuring support agreement reached with its creditors,” ALPA said.

“The global fuel shock now threatening this industry is not something any airline employee caused, and it is not something this workforce should be asked to absorb alone,” Muller said.

Additionally, Richie Johnson, Air Transport General Vice President of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace workers, said the union “strongly supports federal relief for Spirit Airlines, but it must come with clear, enforceable protections for workers, just like the CARES Act’s Airline Payroll Support Program. That means no furloughs, no layoffs, and no shifting the burden onto the very people who keep this airline running.”

IAM represents about 350 ramp service workers at Spirit. The CARES Act Payroll Support Program provided $59 billion to airlines and their contractors to pay workers during the pandemic.

“We’ve seen this model work before,” Johnson said in a prepared statement. “Keeping experienced aviation workers on the job ensures reliability, safety and the affordability passengers count on.”

“IAM Union members at Spirit, and all frontline aviation workers, did not cause this crisis,” Johnson said. Rather, a federal judge prevented a $3.8 billion merger between JetBlue and Spirit in 2024, saying it would reduce competition. Now jet fuel prices are at an all-time high, and while American, Delta and United have largely been able to pass on their higher fuel costs to ticket buyers, it is not clear that smaller airlines can do the same or that a combined Jet Blue Spirit would be in a stronger position.

If Spirit could maintain a presence until oil prices recede, perhaps a deal could pair Spirit with Frontier to create a national low fare airline, filling gaps in the hub carriers’ networks.