Why Spirit Airlines' Jets Are Heading To The Desert
Spirit Airlines shut down and its fleet of leased jets needed to be relocated, with pilot Steve Giordano coordinating the logistics of moving dozens of planes to desert storage facilities in Arizona. Some aircraft may be leased to other airlines while others will be dismantled for parts, with engines being particularly valuable due to ongoing aerospace supply chain shortages.
Summary
Following Spirit Airlines' shutdown earlier in the month, its fleet of canary yellow jets were left stranded at airports across the United States. Pilot Steve Giordano and his team took on the task of relocating all of Spirit's aircraft within eight days, moving them to two desert storage locations: Marana, just north of Tucson, Arizona, and Goodyear on the west side of Phoenix. The operation required careful coordination of fuel, permits, flight plans, weather briefings, and crew logistics, with only required crew members allowed aboard — no passengers.
The video explains that Spirit, like many modern airlines, did not own the bulk of its fleet outright but instead leased its aircraft. According to court filings, Spirit had 66 planes under lease when it ceased operations. A bankruptcy judge approved the sale of Spirit-owned aircraft to help repay creditors, while lessors sought the return of their leased planes. Before any ferry flight could take place, an FAA representative was required to inspect each aircraft and issue an airworthiness permit.
The crew members who operated these ferry flights took on multiple roles aboard the empty jets, handling everything from piloting to ramp duties, and even consuming leftover Spirit snacks from the galley. The cockpit door remained open throughout flights, creating an unusual atmosphere for those accustomed to normal commercial operations.
The fate of the aircraft varies: some may be leased to other carriers, while others will be parted out. This comes amid broader aerospace supply chain disruptions that IATA estimated were costing the industry an additional $11 billion as of April. Engines are in particularly high demand and short supply — a popular Pratt & Whitney engine rose in value from $11.3 million to $14.5 million between 2021 and January 2024. Spirit's older-tech V2500 engines are noted as still being highly sought after in the market.
Key Insights
- Pilot Steve Giordano states that his team moved all of Spirit's grounded aircraft within eight days to desert storage facilities in Marana and Goodyear, Arizona, coordinating fuel, permits, slots, flight plans, weather briefings, and crew travel across multiple airports nationwide.
- According to court filings cited in the video, Spirit Airlines had 66 airplanes under lease when it ceased operations, illustrating how modern airlines rely heavily on leasing rather than outright ownership of their fleets.
- Giordano describes the surreal experience of ferry flights on large, empty commercial aircraft where crew members serve as pilots, flight attendants, and ramp agents simultaneously, with the cockpit door left open and crew eating leftover Spirit snacks from galley carts.
- IATA estimated in April that aerospace supply chain disruptions — including falling production of new airplanes and engines — were costing the industry an additional $11 billion, though Boeing and Airbus have made some recent progress ramping up production.
- An IBA Group report cited in the video shows that a popular Pratt & Whitney engine rose in value from $11.3 million to $14.5 million between 2021 and January 2024, with older-tech V2500 engines from Spirit's fleet still described as being in high demand.
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] Spirit Airlines shut down earlier this month. Its fleet of dozens of leased planes were left stranded all over the country. Now, many of the canary yellow jets need a place to go. That's where pilot Steve Giordano comes in. When an aircraft, a large commercial aircraft, is not on the airline's operating certificate, it requires infrastructure to operate and to move. And so our job has been to take aircraft back from Spirit Airlines after they had ceased operations. So within eight days, we moved all of them from various airports [0:31] throughout the United States to either Marana, which is just north of Tucson, Arizona, or Goodyear, on the west side of Phoenix. Today, many airlines don't…
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