Spirit Airlines shutdown forces thousands of US employees to reset careers
Key takeaways
- Add ARY News on Google AAResize NEW YORK: In April, Travis Arcamone was named flight attendant of the year at Spirit Airlines’ Orlando, Florida, base.
- Spirit’s demise has left thousands of employees scrambling for work in an industry where getting rehired can take months.
- Arcamone, who was one month shy of his ninth anniversary at Spirit when he was laid off, is settling into a new job as a car salesman, while still looking to return to the skies.
Why this matters: local context for readers following news across Pakistan and the region.
Add ARY News on Google AAResize NEW YORK: In April, Travis Arcamone was named flight attendant of the year at Spirit Airlines’ Orlando, Florida, base. A month later, he was out of a job, after the company failed to find a way out of a second bankruptcy and collapsed in early May.
Spirit’s demise has left thousands of employees scrambling for work in an industry where getting rehired can take months. Many airlines have a set number of pilots and flight attendants they intend to hire each year and have already recruited for the peak summer travel season. More broadly, the industry is navigating short-term capacity cuts to mitigate rising jet fuel costs, while also planning for long-term growth.
Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO, estimated it could take four to five months for several hundred of Spirit’s 3,500 flight attendants to start working at a new airline, and that would be a best-case scenario.