Spirit Airlines CEO Ted Christie was paid a $3.8 million retention bonus a week before the no-frills Florida-based carrier declared bankruptcy, according to a report.
Christie, whose company announced last month that it plans to cut an unspecified number of jobs and to sell off some jets worth millions, gets to keep the bonus if he stays with the firm for another year, according to WLRN South Florida.
The chief executive, who was named CEO in 2019 after having serviced as its chief financial officer, lives in a luxurious $2.5 million home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — just a 30-minute drive from company headquarters in Miramar, according to Realtor.com.
Christie and his wife, Theresa, paid $1.2 million for the three-bedroom, three-bathroom home in 2012.
The “custom built” abode, which measures 3,617 square feet of living space atop a 6,189-square-foot lot, boasts several amenities including a private swimming pool in the backyard as well as a covered porch.
The airline, whose stock has fallen by more than 90% since the start of the year, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York on Monday — months after a federal judge blocked its $3.8 billion merger with JetBlue Airways.
More recently, merger talks between Spirit and Frontier broke down after the latter decided not to move forward with a deal.
The bankruptcy filing marked a stunning fall from grace for an airline that had considerable market share before the coronavirus pandemic, when it was luring price-sensitive travelers and forcing larger carriers to introduce their own versions of budget offerings.
The airline’s business model of an integrated fleet, keeping planes flying more hours in the day and putting more seats on every aircraft, helped optimize its resources and kept costs down.
Its high fleet utilization produced double-digit operating margins for nine straight years until 2020.
But the pandemic upended the operating environment and people’s travel patterns — making it difficult for Spirit to adapt.
Spirit’s average daily aircraft utilization is down 16% this year versus 2019, fueling cost pressures.
Consumer demand has shifted in favor of full-service airlines in the past two years as middle- and upper-income households were vacationing extensively, while inflation hurt lower-income spenders.
Loss after loss has continued to pile up in the meantime — with the company losing more than $2.5 billion since the start of 2020. Spirit also faces mounting debt, with looming payments totaling more than $1 billion.
Spirit, like many other airlines, chased growth, but did so by adding more than $2 billion in debt between 2020 and 2023.
Sticking to its pre-pandemic playbook, it grew capacity on average by 27% in the past three years in a bid to grab a bigger slice of the leisure travel market.
Analysts urged Spirit and its no-frills peers to slow expansion plans.
The Post has sought comment from Spirit Airlines.
With Post Wires