With Spirit in liquidation, here's what happens next to its planes

"Most of Spirit Airlines' fleet is grounded. But a few of its bright yellow planes were in the air this week including Nomadic Flight 189 from Spirit's former hub in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to Phoenix Goodyear Airport. It wasn't carrying any passengers, just a skeleton crew ferrying the plane to Arizona for storage. When Spirit Airlines stopped flying last weekend, it left more than 90 planes at dozens of airports around the country."

"Within days, Spirit's lawyers were in court asking for permission to start an "orderly wind-down of operations." This is complicated because Spirit doesn't actually own most of its planes. The majority more than 60 planes, nearly two-thirds of its active fleet were leased, according to court filings. And the owners want those planes back."

""Everybody tries to move them as quickly as possible," said Steve Giordano, the managing partner of the Nomadic Aviation Group, which is in the business of ferrying planes across the country. He works with six of the companies that own Spirit's jets. "Some are already probably in the pipeline to be leased again. Some are going to have the engines removed, moved on to different airframes and those aircraft are going to get leased. Some are going to get parted out. Some, nobody knows," Giordano said in an interview."

"Spirit, too, is looking to monetize anything it can: planes, engines, spare parts, real estate, and other valuable assets that it's hoping to liquidate. According to court filings, Spirit has 28 planes it could sell, all of them in the Airbus A320 family. It also owns an office building in South Florida, maintenance facilities, and other assets that another airline might want to buy. "Spirit has gates at some very important, very popular airports," said Henry Harteveldt, an airline analyst at the Atmosphere Research Group."

Most of Spirit Airlines’ fleet was grounded, with a few aircraft still flying to storage locations. Nomadic Flight 189 ferried a plane from Fort Lauderdale to Phoenix Goodyear Airport with a skeleton crew and no passengers. After Spirit stopped flying, more than 90 planes were left at airports nationwide. Spirit sought court permission to begin an orderly wind-down of operations. The process is complicated because most aircraft are leased, with owners demanding their planes back. Lessors and ferry operators move aircraft quickly for re-leasing, engine removal, parting out, or other uses. Spirit also aims to monetize planes, engines, spare parts, gates, and landing slots, including assets it owns such as maintenance facilities and an office building.

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