Spirit Airlines CEO Ted Christie Steps Down, Finally

There’s a leadership change coming to Spirit Airlines, or whatever is left of it…

Spirit Airlines management changes effective immediately

There’s a major shakeup in Spirit Airlines management as of today, Monday, April 7, 2025. Most significant is that CEO Ted Christie will be stepping down effective immediately. He has been at the airline for 13 years, and has been CEO since 2019. On top of that, Matt Klein, Chief Commercial Officer, will also be leaving the airline.

The company is now trying to find a permanent replacement for Christie. On an interim basis, three people will be leading the company — Chief Financial Officer Fred Cromer, Chief Operating Officer John Bendoraitis, and General Counsel Thomas Canfield.

Here’s how Spirit Chairman Robert Milton describes this:

“On behalf of the Board and the Spirit team, I thank Ted for his tireless efforts over the course of his 13 years at the Company. He has seen a lot and done a lot during his tenure here, including navigating the Company through the COVID crisis and multiple strategic junctures, as well as most recently, a corporate restructuring. Ted has kept the company together through challenging times, and for this we wish him all the best going forward.”

I’m surprised Christie stuck around Spirit for so long

Let me start by saying that Christie’s time as CEO of the airline has been rather unenviable due to factors outside of his control. A year after becoming CEO, we saw the pandemic, which completely changed the economics of the industry, especially for ultra low cost carriers.

Then we saw Frontier attempt to acquire Spirit, only for JetBlue to outbid Frontier, and reach an agreement. Then we saw that deal blocked by the DOJ, putting Spirit in an impossible situation. Spirit ultimately filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which was needed, and was a quick process.

Even out of bankruptcy, there’s simply no way that I can envision Spirit having an independent future. The airline is lighting money on fire faster than ever before, and that’s not even factoring in the current situation we’re seeing.

All of that brings me to Christie. He seems like a super nice guy, but I’m kind of shocked he stayed in charge at Spirit for as long as he did. The reality is that even as the airline kept performing poorly, he did very little to change things, and the airline just sort of stayed course. Eventually the airline decided to just match legacy carriers and stop being ultra low cost, but that’s not a winning strategy either.

It’s quite interesting to contrast Spirit and Frontier. Frontier is obviously struggling as well, but the airline has improved considerably, and that’s because management at the airline has taken decisive action to greatly evolve the business model.

With Spirit now looking for a “permanent” replacement, I’m curious what kind of a candidate that entails. When Spirit emerged from bankruptcy, bondholders gave the airlines $350 million in new funding. Meanwhile in 2024, the airline had an operating loss of $1.1 billion, and a negative margin of 22.5%. So I don’t see that money lasting very long, eh?

It’s a bit like the Titanic hiring a new captain as the ship is already sinking. I mean, maybe the new CEO will just be someone who helps with selling off the assets, but I don’t see it being a very long term role…

Bottom line

Spirit Airlines CEO Ted Christie is leaving the airline effective immediately, after being in charge since 2019. Obviously the airline performed horribly under his tenure, though that’s largely due to outside factors, and the general shift of the industry.

I am a bit surprised that it took the airline this long to show him the door, since Spirit wasn’t exactly quick to evolve, and the carrier’s financial performance has only gotten worse. I’m curious to see who gets this role next…

What do you make of Ted Christie leaving Spirit?