Spirit Airlines will recruit thousands of new workers this year, the airline announced in a statement.
The number of employees it intends to bring on board this year will increase to more than 4,000, according to the low-cost carrier. The company plans to fill some positions, including pilots, flight attendants, plane maintenance techs, and other positions, according to the release.
A spokesman told FOX Business that the airline is not providing a breakdown of the hiring at this time.
In early February, Spirit Airlines reported that its workforce had approximately 12,000 active employees, of which almost 3,200 were pilots, about 5,700 were flight attendants and some 3,100 were workers in other roles, according to its annual report. That figure is a 22% increase from the previous year and equates to about 11,100 on an average full-time equivalent basis. The company is having five recruitment events in Las Vegas, one in Chicago and two in Miramar, Florida in April, according to the release.
Spirit spokeswoman told FOX Business that the hiring of the low-cost airline was not related to JetBlue's acquisition of the low-cost airline.
The JetBlue-Spirit transaction, worth $3.8 billion, was announced in the summer of last year and has been met with a challenge from the U.S. government. The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on antitrust grounds, allegations that the airlines have pushed back on.
The regulatory review process is expected to extend into next year, and the merger is under an extensive regulatory review process, according to the spokesperson. We continue to operate as independent companies until the transaction closes. It's business as usual for Spirit. Spirit expects to receive more than two dozen new planes this year that need staff, which is on top of the 21 brand-new Airbus A 320 Family aircraft it received the previous year, according to the company s release. The number of routes it offers has grown, with nine cities in 2022 and more new cities coming this year, it said.
The total number of people employed by U.S. passenger and cargo airlines in January was 787,328, a slight increase in January, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.