Spirit Airlines has long been synonymous with the word “cheap.”
With Spirit, you can get a cheap seat, sometimes for $30 or even less. But if you pay for anything else, like a checked back, an assigned seat, a boarding pass or pretty much anything else you can think of, the add-on fees will quickly feel similar to what you would pay at a more conventional airline.
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But while Spirit has a reputation for being thrifty, there comes a time when you have no choice but to break open the piggy bank.
Every airline is currently dealing with a lack of pilots, as well as key employees like flight attendants, help desk employees and more, as airlines offered people buyouts and early retirements during the pandemic in order to cut costs.
Delta, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines have all given their pilots raises lately, and have announced plans to spend the money necessary to recruit and train a new generation of pilots.
Spirit (SAVE) is also on a hiring spree, as the budget airline has announced it will hold recruitment events in three cities this month to attract future employees. The airline is looking to hire more than 4,000 new workers, reports Simple Flying, including pilots, flight attendants and maintenance workers.
Spirit Is On A Hiring Streak
"We're welcoming thousands of new Spirit Family Members across our network this year and have a broad range of positions available for people with all different interests, talents and experience levels,” said Linde Grindle, Spirit Airlines' Senior Vice President, and Chief Human Resources Officer, adding “as Spirit continues to grow, so do our people. Joining one of the fastest-growing airlines means our Team Members have more opportunities to gain fun travel perks, advance their career goals and enable people to travel more often, to more places."
Additionally, Spirit is adding to new cities to its network, including Las Vegas. As it stands, Spirit plans to be the only airline that will connect Charleston International Airport to Sin City this fall.
Last year, Spirit added nine new routes to nine cities, bringing its network to nearly 100 destinations served in the US, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
In March, the Department of Justice and several state attorneys general sued to block JetBlue's planned $3.8 billion acquisition of Spirit. The deal "will increase fares and reduce choice on routes across the country, raising costs for the flying public and harming cost-conscious fliers most acutely," the DOJ said in a statement announcing the suit.
