Spirit Airlines became the latest airline on 1 August to say it had deferred deliveries of new Airbus A320neo-family jets, a move coming amid competitive pressure and operational upheavals caused by Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engine problems.
The US discount airline also revealed it is furloughing some 240 pilots as it works to whittle down its operation in response to what executives call a situation of over capacity.
Spirit has deferred until 2030 and 2031 deliveries of A320neo-family jets previously scheduled to arrive between July 2025 and end-2026, the carrier said in disclosing its second-quarter financial results on 1 August.
Cirium data shows Miramar, Florida-based Spirit had planned to acquire six jets during that period.
The moves respond to what Spirit chief commercial officer Matt Klein calls “over supply of industry capacity for the existing level of leisure demand”.
Spirit lost $193 million in the second quarter, brining its first-half 2024 losses to $336 million.
News of Spirit’s deferrals come after JetBlue Airways on 30 July said it had delayed delivery of 44 A321neos from Airbus until 2030 and later. The New York-based airline now expects to receive no A321neos between 2026 and 2029.
The deferrals come as both carriers’ operations remain hobbled by P&W’s recall of PW1100G geared turbofans (GTFs), which power the A320neo-family jets. Those engines need early inspections and replacement parts due to manufacturing problems involving powdered metal.
As a result, Spirit said on 1 August it expects 20 of its jets will be grounded at any given time through year-end. That equates to about 20% of its A320neo-family fleet and 10% of its broader fleet, Cirium data shows. Spirit believes the impact will worsen next year, predicting 25 aircraft will be grounded in early 2025, climbing to 67 at end-2025.
The maintenance work is taking more than 400 days per engine due to part shortages and insufficient maintenance-shop capacity, says Christie.
P&W declines to comment.
The engine maker’s recalls have affected more than 1,000 PW1000G-family engines and will result in an average of 350 A320neo-family jets being grounded at any time between 2024 and 2026, it has said.
Chris Calio, CEO of P&W parent RTX, said on 25 July that P&W has, since late last year, only been shipping to Airbus engines with non-defective, full-life parts.
Speaking on 1 August, Spirit’s Christie acknowledge P&W has “made progress” in delivering new, non-defective PW1100Gs, but still expressed uncertainty about whether even the new engines will need earlier-than-expected maintenance.
“Whether or not that abates any early removal risk, or eliminates it, remains to be seen,” Christie says.
He does not elaborate, but the comment comes amid reports that airlines are working through other PW1100G problems – those unrelated to the powder-metal problem.
On 30 July, JetBlue said it expects 11 of its A321neos will be out of service for maintenance this year due to PW1100G problems.
Interestingly, JetBlue chief financial officer Ursula Hurley said the “majority” of those will be down for “inspections outside” the powder-metal issue.
She cited “a number of other unscheduled engine maintenance visits that are resulting in GTF engines coming off wing much sooner than anticipated, some after just a year of flying”.
