Spirit Flights to Resume Friday, June 18, 2010

A contentious labor action, grounding hundreds of flights and thousands of flyers may soon be over. Communications from Spirit asserts that that the airline and its pilots have "reached a tentative agreement on a new contract. The contract, which was unanimously recommended by the union’s leadership, is subject to ratification by the pilot membership which is planned for July."

Pending ratification, Spirit’s pilots are returning to work, and the airline will resume operations on Friday, June 18. “I am pleased that we were able to fashion a constructive solution to our differences that will allow us to resume serving our customers,” said Captain Sean Creed, head of the Spirit unit of ALPA.

Ben Baldanza, President and CEO of Spirit, stated that, “Our pilots worked hard to get a mutually favorable deal that allows the Company to grow while improving their wages and benefits. We apologize to those of our customers whose travel was disrupted as a result of the strike and look forward to earning back their trust with ultra-low fares, great service, and the best pilots in the sky.”

FMI: www.spiritair.com, www.alpa.org