US low-cost carrier Spirit is to re-employ 500 cabin crew that had been furloughed since last November.

The staff were among roughly 1,800 employees moved from active duty during the latest round of the embattled airline’s restructuring plans.

READ: Spirit furloughs 1,800 flight attendants

This move has been welcomed by flight attendants and the union that represents them. In a post on X, the  AFA-CWA union said: “This is good news for 500 flight attendants and their families and critical to those of us on the line that have faced a gruelling operation over the last two months. The company’s goal in recalling flight attendants is to ease some of the operational issues since the furloughs”.

As part of the restructuring, Spirit cut routes, downsized its fleet and arranged sale and leaseback on some aircraft. The airline hopes that the drastic restructure coupled with the sale of assets, including 20 Airbus A320-family aircraft, will allow it to exit bankruptcy.