Spirit Airlines, one of the nation’s largest air carriers, will close one of its New Jersey crew hubs later this year as part of a larger restructuring plan announced Monday.
The airline will cease operations of its crew base at Atlantic City International Airport on Sept. 1, a Spirit spokesperson said Tuesday. The company cited a gradual decline in flights from Atlantic City. Spirit is the airport’s lone carrier, running non-stop flights mostly between South Jersey and Florida.
The closure will affect 157 pilots and flight attendants, the company spokesperson said.
Despite the closure of the crew hub, Spirit will continue operating flights to and from Atlantic City, the company spokesperson said.
“Spirit is actively evaluating opening a new crew base in the Northeast to provide coverage from one of our larger cities, and we hope to be able to finalize a new crew base in the near future,” the airline said in a statement to NJ Advance Media.
The move follows the termination of a $3.8 billion proposed merger between Spirit and airline JetBlue last month. JetBlue agreed to pay Spirit $69 million after both sides agreed to call of the deal.
The merger faced legal hurdles after a Massachusetts U.S. District Court judge blocked the deal, saying it violated antitrust laws.
The decision to close the Atlantic City crew hub is tied to an agreement between Spirit and aircraft manufacturer Airbus to defer all aircraft orders scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 2025 through the end of 2026. The orders will be deferred to 2030-2031, the company said.
The move, Spirit said, will improve its financial position over the next two years by about $340 million.
France-based Airbus is still scheduled to deliver planes to Spirit between 2027 and 2029.
The Atlantic City crew base closure is also linked to an ongoing shortage of Pratt & Whitney GTF engines, the company said. Both the aircraft order delay and equipment snags led to Spirit also announcing it would furlough 260 pilots by September.
Spirit has no plans to close other crew hubs, a source familiar with the matter told NJ Advance Media.
The airline has serviced the Atlantic City airport for over 30 years, but flight frequency has fallen in recent years to an average of eight to 10 daily departures, depending on the flying season, the spokesperson said.
The airport, which is managed by the South Jersey Transportation Authority, recorded about 799,000 flyers by December 2023. That is about 5% fewer passengers than the same time in 2022, the authority said.
Spirit is the only airline to offer flights from Atlantic City. Sun Country Airlines recently delayed starting a service between the airport and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Atlantic City is currently not listed as a destination on the carrier’s website.
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Eric Conklin may be reached at econklin@njadvancemedia.com.
