Spirit Airlines Shares of the troubled budget airline surged Friday after the carrier said it would cut jobs and sell planes.

The stock closed up 16% for the day at $2.79 a share.

Late Thursday, Spirit unveiled a plan to cut costs and raise cash by selling 23 older Airbus jets. The sale will bring in $519 million, Spirit said in a securities filing.

The company also said it would cut about $80 million in costs by cutting jobs.

Last week, the airline again delayed until the end of December the refinancing of more than $1 billion in debt to give its credit card processor some breathing room.

Spirit has struggled to return to profitability after the pandemic, facing shifts in travel demand and the grounding of dozens of Pratt & Whitney-powered aircraft.

Despite Friday’s gains, Spirit shares are down more than 80% this year after a judge blocked JetBlue Airways’ plan to acquire Spirit. .

Spirit did not immediately comment on the number of layoffs but said its 2025 capacity will be in the mid-teens from this year. The company began furloughing about 200 pilots in September. The company said flight attendants were “in a good position” because many crew members took voluntary leave.

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Spirit and Frontier Airlines had restarted merger talks, driving the stock higher. The two airlines did not immediately comment. The two budget airlines had reached a merger agreement but were forced to break off an offer to acquire Spirit outright in April 2022 when JetBlue intervened.

Late Thursday, Spirit forecast a third-quarter operating margin of negative 24.5%, better than its previous forecast of a negative 29% margin in the third quarter.
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