A regulatory filing has shown that US-based low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines has completed sale-leaseback transactions covering 25 aircraft.

In a sale-leaseback transaction, the seller of the asset becomes the lessee and the purchaser becomes the lessor. A sale-leaseback enables a company to sell an asset to raise capital, then lets the company lease that asset back from the purchaser. In this way, a company can get both the cash and the asset it needs to operate its business.

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The filing shows that on January 3, 2024, Spirit completed a series of sale-leaseback transactions with respect to 25 aircraft, resulting in repayment of approximately $465 million of indebtedness on those aircraft and net cash proceeds to the company of approximately $419 million.

The airline was in the news during 2023 due to a proposed merger with rival JetBlue which ended up in the antitrust court, and Sprit posting lower than expected results in Q3 which it attributed to softer demand for services and an increase in its wage bill.