Spirit Airlines has a new leader.
The Broward-based carrier has turned to an aviation industry insider as it attempts to forge a new chapter after enduring bankruptcy woes and years of merger failures..
Spirit’s board of directors appointed Dave Davis as president and chief executive officer, the airline’s parent company said on Thursday. He will start that role and join the board of directors on April 21.
Davis replaces longtime President and CEO Ted Christie, who resigned April 7 after successfully leading the company through restructuring.
Davis comes from Sun Country Airlines, where he was president and chief financial officer and a member of its board of directors since December 2019. Before that, he was the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Northwest Airlines, the world’s fourth largest airline before its sale to Delta in 2008.
Minneapolis-based Sun Country Airlines said in a regulatory filing on April 17 with the Securities and Exchange Committee that on April 16, Davis “informed the Board that he would be stepping down from his position.” Sun Country noted that “Mr. Davis’ resignation was not a result of any disagreement with the Company or the Board.”
His success at Sun Country was a selling point to Broward-based Spirit.
“As ultra-low-cost carriers like Spirit and Frontier falter, Sun Country has been able to routinely stand out as one of the most profitable airlines in the U.S.” travel media Skift wrote in a report in August. It noted that Sun Country’s operating margin of 13% was the highest among American airline companies. Operating margin is a measure of a company’s profit after taking into account most expenses except interest and taxes.
“The Minneapolis-based carrier has developed a niche market in Minnesota, along with a cargo and charter business that have boosted its bottom line,” Skift wrote in another report on April 17.
There’s hope then that Davis, 58 and with an MBA and an aerospace engineering and mechanics degree, has what it takes to make Spirit a successful business.
Will Spirit now seek another airline merger?
Davis’ experience with Northwest Airlines before its deal with Delta offers another tantalizing possibility — that he’ll be skillful in leading a merger with another airline. That would serve as a stark contrast to the multiple failed mergers Spirit attempted.
“He brings with him a wealth of experience and a solid track record of accomplishments from his many years in the airline industry,” said Robert Milton, chairman of Spirit Airlines. That “positions him well to lead Spirit’s continued transformation.”
The new chief will receive a three-year employment package with a $950,000 annual base salary and a $4 million signing bonus to be paid in two installments, according to April 17 regulatory filings by Spirit with the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission.
How Spirit Airlines survived bankruptcy
In November 2024, Spirit filed for bankruptcy protection.
On Feb. 20, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved the carrier’s plan to continue operating as a business, and cleared bankruptcy shortly thereafter.
Then-CEO Ted Christie called the court’s approval “a major milestone.”
“We will emerge as a stronger airline with the financial flexibility to continue providing guests with enhanced travel experiences and greater value,” he said.
By the second week of April, he was gone.
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