Pratt & Whitney (P&W) has reached another agreement to provide financially struggling US discount carrier Spirit Airlines with additional compensation for jets grounded due to problems with PW1100G geared turbofans (GTFs).
The agreement, disclosed by Florida-based Spirit on 9 June, comes as P&W continues working through a recall affecting several thousand GTFs in service with airlines globally. That recall is due to manufacturing problems using powdered metal that left engines containing metallic components possibly subject to early failure.
GTFs, including PW1100Gs that power Airbus A320neo-family jets, have also recently suffered disruptive reliability from problems unrelated to the recall, executives at several airlines have said.
Spirit is among the world’s airlines most affected by GTF durability issues, having been forced to ground dozens of jets at any given time recently due to unexpected engine maintenance. Spirit filed for bankruptcy protection last year and recently emerged from the process.
The airline had already reached one compensation deal under which it received $150 million worth of credits in 2024 from the engine maker.
Now, Spirit says that on 4 June it reached another deal under which it will receive from P&W “a monthly credit through the end of 2025… as compensation for each Spirit aircraft unavailable for operational service due to GTF engine issues”.
“The estimated impact of the agreement on Spirit’s liquidity is currently expected to be between $150 million and $195 million,” Spirit says.
The exact amount will depend on “the number of days accumulated in 2025 on which Spirit aircraft are or were unavailable for operational service due to GTF engine issues”, it adds.
Spirit does not specify that the compensation is related to the specific powdered-metal-manufacturing recall.
With the deal, Spirit also agrees to release P&W from claims related to affected engines.
The airline’s fleet includes 123 Airbus A320neo-family jets, of which 36 – or 30% – are categorised as in ”storage” by airline fleet data provider Cirium.
The data does not specify why those jets are in storage but Cirium has previously said that GTF issues are the likely culprit.
P&W parent RTX has estimated it will shell out a total $2.9 billion in compensation to PW1100G customers due to the recall. That amount reflects RTX’s 51% ownership share in the PW1100G programme.
