NEW YORK, Oct 16 (Reuters) -

Spirit Airlines on Thursday said it will furlough 365 pilots

and downgrade the status of up to 170 pilots in the first

quarter of 2026 as it makes larger cuts to its workforce as part

of its restructuring efforts.

After filing for bankruptcy in August for the second time in a

year, the ultra-low-cost airline told the union representing its

pilots that it wants to cut $100 million in annual spending on

pilots to conserve cash.

"As part of our ongoing restructuring, we are taking additional

steps to align staffing across our organization with our

previously announced capacity reduction and smaller operating

fleet size," the company said in a statement.

With voluntary attrition, the estimated furloughs are

likely to decrease over the next several weeks, Spirit COO John

Bendoraitis told employees in a memo seen by Reuters. The

company will open the bid at the end of November.

Spirit previously furloughed about 330 pilots and plans to

furlough another 270 in November. It has also decided to

furlough approximately 1,800 flight attendants, about one-third

of its cabin crew, effective December 1.

The Florida-based airline said there will also be reductions

across its corporate teams and it plans to make volume-based

staffing adjustments across its maintenance stations. The

carrier will close its maintenance stations and warehouse

operations in Baltimore and Chicago effective January 1, 2026.

Spirit said in a filing that the furloughs are expected to

save the company $211 million.

Spirit estimated it would incur losses of $804 million in

2025. It said its transformation plan to

return to profitability

in 2027 requires it to reduce its network in 2026.