Spirit Airlines retired its last commercial Airbus A319 aircraft, the smallest member of the Airbus A320 family (it did not operate the smaller A318), in early January.
Last A319s
According to Flightradar24, on January 2, a Spirit Airlines Airbus A319 registered as N536NK departed from Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL) to Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH).
Since then, the airframe, manufacturer serial number (MSN) 4422, has been transported to Coolidge Municipal Airport on January 8.
On January 6, another A319 registered as N535NK crashed during its final commercial flight from San Juan Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU) to Fort Lauderdale.
MSN 4403 was relocated to Houston-Intercontinental on January 7 and then to Coolidge Municipal three days later.According to Ch-aviation records, the two aircraft are owned by Carlyle Aviation Partners, an aircraft leasing firm based in the United States.
Meanwhile, Coolidge Airport is a servicing center for AIM, a Tucson, Arizona-based maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services company. The company says it offers breakdown, disassembly, and part-out services.
The two A319s were equipped with International Aero Engines (IAE) V2500 engines. Spirit Airlines had been operating the two since December 2016, after Mexico-based Volaris terminated them from its fleet in October 2016.
Airbus originally delivered the two A319s to the Mexican operator in August 2010. According to ch-aviation, as of September 30, 2024, MSN 4403 had 44,768 flying hours (FH) and 19,498 flight cycles (FC), while MSN 4422 had 43,471 FH and 19,338 FC.
Only leased A319s.
Spirit Airlines announced in January 2023 that it had sold 29 unencumbered A319 aircraft powered by IAE V2500 engines to Gryphon Trading Company, an affiliate of Gryphon Aviation Leasing, a US-based leasing company that specializes in three to 15-year-old aviation assets that are serviceable or ready for retirement and disassembly.
The aggregate price ranged from $152 million to $201 million, depending on price modifications mentioned in the two companies’ private agreement.
“The aircraft are expected to be delivered beginning in the first quarter of 2023 and ending in the third quarter of 2024.” The Company anticipates removing 14 and 15 A319ceo aircraft from its operating fleet in 2023 and 2024, respectively.”
Spirit Airlines stated that the remaining two A319 aircraft in its inventory, MSN 4403 and MSN 4422, were leased and should be returned to the lessor when the lease expires in 2025.
According to the airline’s full-year Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) report on February 9, 2024, the decision to sell the aircraft came shortly after it opted to hasten the retirement of 29 A319s in Q4 2022.
Selling other A320ceo aircraft.
In October 2024, Spirit Airlines sold 23 more Airbus A320ceo and A321ceo aircraft to GA Telesis, a US-based aerospace asset management company.The aircraft, delivered between 2014 and 2019, cost $519 million. However, the carrier stated that the acquisition will add $225 million to its balance sheet by the end of 2025.
When the airline filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 18, 2024, the judge handling its case at the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York had to authorize these transactions.
Spirit Airlines can sell the first five planes in the agreement in late November 2024, according to the court ruling. Only three of the 23 remain in active commercial service: N642NK, N673NK, and N641NK. The remaining were shipped to Phoenix Goodyear Airport (GYR) in late 2024 and early January.