Spirit Airlines (SAVE) lost more than a quarter of its remaining value Friday — it’s down 28% after investors suspected it might file for bankruptcy soon. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the company is in talks with bondholders about what a debt restructuring might look like.
Speculation has swirled for months that Spirit might be approaching bankruptcy. After a judge blocked its $3.8 billion merger with JetBlue Airways (JBLU) in January on antitrust grounds, the two companies called off their tie-up attempt two months later rather than pursue the deal through an appeal.
While JetBlue has called the situation “three years of distraction” and moved on, Spirit has had more trouble going it alone. (This is not the first time reports have swirled of an imminent bankruptcy.) Although it has tried things such as eliminating certain fees and teasing comfier seating arrangements than its usual budget offerings, the company’s stock remains down about 90% for the year.
The carrier’s last financial report showed its 11th consecutive quarterly loss and revealed its struggle to make headway in a turnaround while having to increasingly compete with larger so-called “legacy” players for low-fare customers. Spirit declined to comment to Quartz on the report but pointed Quartz toward comments made by company CEO Ted Christie during that August earnings call.
“We are engaged in productive conversations with the advisors of our bondholders to address the upcoming debt maturities,” he said at the time. “Because those conversations are ongoing, we are not going to go into detail or take any questions on this topic or speculate on potential outcomes.”
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