On May 2, Spirit Airlines ceased operations, prompting Steve Giordano, managing partner of Nomadic Aviation Group, to coordinate the repossession of over 20 Spirit aircraft. Giordano's team ferried 23 Airbus jets from various airports to storage locations in the Arizona desert, a common practice for retired aircraft due to the dry climate that minimizes corrosion.
The operation began shortly after Spirit's shutdown at 3 a.m. ET, with Nomadic and hired pilots, some former Spirit employees, managing the logistics of the flights.
Nomadic specializes in aircraft transport and repossession, a rare task that becomes necessary when airlines like Spirit enter bankruptcy, as was the case with Spirit's liquidation process, which involved returning leased planes to lessors. Spirit had a fleet of 114 Airbus A320s, with 66 of those being leased.
The demand for operational aircraft parts, particularly engines, has increased due to supply chain issues post-Covid, with values rising significantly. Giordano described the experience of flying the last Spirit plane out of Philadelphia as surreal, marking a significant moment in aviation history as major airline shutdowns are infrequent in the U.S