Spirit Airlines (NYSE:SAVE) is planning to start training new pilots and flight attendants as early as next month as the budget carrier positions itself for a travel rebound after the pandemic slump.
"We’ll be a big hirer again," CEO Ted Christie said Thursday. "Growth in the airline industry is going to be at the leisure end, and we’re the primary server of that guest."
Christie said the airline plans to hire for other positions as well this year. Another spokesman said Spirit last trained a class of new pilots in May and new flight attendants last February.
The carrier declined to say how many employees it plans to add this year. It ended last year with 8,756 employees, including 2,497 pilots and 4,028 flight attendants, according to a securities filing.
The airline is also calling back some workers who took leaves of absence, programs that helped avoid involuntary furloughs of unionized workers, who make up the bulk of its staff.
Some of those employees, like pilots, will also need to meet federally mandated training requirements before returning to the job.
Spirit lost $428.7 million in 2020, its first annual net loss since at least 2007. U.S. airlines together lost more than $34 billion last year because of the pandemic, which executives call the industry’s worst-ever crisis.
Spirit, like others, is now hoping that the rollout of vaccines will help spur a revival in air travel. The airline expects to get back to 2019 capacity levels by midyear.
SAVE shares were still on the tarmac Friday, stuck at $30.01.
