Spirit Airlines CEO Ted Christie, who led the pioneering discount carrier as it navigated a Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring, multiple takeover bids and efforts to make the airline more customer friendly, has stepped down from his post after 13 years with the company, officials announced Monday.

According to a regulatory filing and statement, the airline will be run at least for now by committee. Its board of directors established an Office of the President to be occupied by three incumbent executives: John Bendoraitis, executive vice president and chief operating officer; Fred Cromer, executive vice president and chief financial officer; and Thomas C. Canfield, senior vice president, general counsel and secretary.

“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,” Spirit Chairman Robert Milton said in a statement. “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.”

Christie also relinquished his seat on the Spirit board of directors, also effective Monday.

Matt Klein, the chief commercial officer, also stepped aside in the executive suite shakeup. He’ll be succeeded immediately by Rana Ghosh, a marketing specialist who has served as Spirit’s senior vice president and chief transformation officer. He had been responsible for “leading the strategic repositioning of the airline for future growth,” according to a prior statement.

It was not immediately clear whether Christie voluntarily resigned or was terminated, or how quickly Spirit intends to hire a replacement. A spokesperson said the airline would not comment beyond a short news release announcing the executive changes.

But it appears the separation may have cost Christie a $3.8 million retention bonus he received prior to the Chapter 11 filing last November. He was to have kept the bonus if he had stayed with the airline for another year, according to a previous regulatory filing.

Intense competition

Given the rugged competitive environment that has enveloped the airline industry, it seems unlikely Spirit will be run by committee for long. But the decision to defer to a troika puzzled some analysts.

“Even temporarily it can be confusing for the executives who are involved and other members of management and even other workers,” said Henry Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research Group in San Francisco. “There is no single person in charge. Everyone is wondering, ‘Who is the decision maker on any given matter?’”

“This is not a criticism of any of the people involved,” he added. “It would have been far better for the airline and its creditors to have agreed on a person to serve at least as an interim CEO.”

Rival budget carriers Frontier Airlines and Allegiant Air, as well as JetBlue Airways, and legacy carriers American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines all serve Spirit’s home turf at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. All of the airlines have been aggressive in serving Florida’s lucrative tourism market.

Spirit Airlines unveils its ‘next chapter:’ A sprawling headquarters campus in Dania Pointe

And as the year has progressed, many airlines have acknowledged “demand challenges” as consumer confidence has fallen and inflation has risen, prompting carriers to cut back on capacity while holding the line on prices. In the meantime, the bigger airlines have been charging economy fares, drawing from Spirit’s customer base.

It was in this environment that Spirit formally emerged from Chapter 11 with a favorable outlook about its prospects with the help of $350 million in fresh equity capital from its leading investors.

“We’re pleased to complete our streamlined restructuring and emerge in a stronger financial position to continue our transformation and investments in the Guest experience,” Christie said in a statement on March 12. “Throughout this process, we’ve continued to make meaningful progress enhancing our product offerings, while also focusing on returning to profitability and positioning our airline for long-term success. Today, we’re moving forward with our strategy to redefine low-fare travel with our new, high-value travel options.”

Uphill battles

Spirit hired Christie in 2012 as chief financial officer; and named him CEO and president in 2019. From there, he led the carrier through the COVID-19 pandemic, and later saw larger carriers invade the airline’s home Florida turf in search of leisure travelers, Spirit’s bread-and-butter customer base.

Faced with widening losses, a manufacturer’s aircraft engine recall that grounded jets, and narrowing time frames for renegotiating debt, the Dania Beach-based carrier filed a “pre-arranged” Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition last November after holding discussions with leading creditors who financed the reorganization.

The filing followed multiple takeover bids for Spirit by Frontier Airlines and JetBlue Airways, none of which came to fruition. A $3.8 billion bid by JetBlue was blocked by a Boston federal judge after the U.S. Justice Department sued to stop it on consumer protection grounds.

Smaller airline

Besides selling 21 Airbus jetliners to a leasing company, the company furloughed 330 pilots in late January — a move that was preceded by the furloughs of 186 cockpit crew members last September. Another 200 support employees were laid off earlier this year.

In a regulatory filing last week, the company said it expects to have 196 planes in its fleet by year’s end. It had more than 210 before the Chapter 11 filing.