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Spirit Aviation Holdings Inc has struck an agreement with noteholders that will allow the US budget airline to exit bankruptcy later this year, capping a tumultuous period marked by strained finances and competitive pressure.Spirit lawyer Marshall Huebner said during a New York court hearing on Tuesday that the company has reached a deal with a key creditor group on the terms of the Chapter 11 exit plan that will trim billions of dollars in debt and reduce the cost of its fleet.The airline expects to emerge from bankruptcy in late spring or early summer, he said.The restructuring is anticipated to reduce Spirit’s debt and aircraft lease obligations from $7.4bn to about $2.1bn, the company said in a press release. The deal is supported by senior noteholders and lenders financing the airline’s bankruptcy.If the restructuring transaction is completed as planned, Spirit will emerge from bankruptcy later this year with a “dramatically improved balance sheet,” Huebner said during Tuesday’s hearing.The proposed restructuring will also allow Spirit to “consider future industry transactions” once it leaves Chapter 11, Huebner said. Before filing its first bankruptcy, Spirit agreed to be acquired by JetBlue Airways Corp but a federal judge blocked the tie-up in 2024 on antitrust grounds.“In order for us to be good consolidation partners we need to be a profitable standalone airline. When we achieve that, we will be looking around for strategic opportunities in the business,” Chief Executive Officer Dave Davis said in an interview with Bloomberg.The company said it will continue negotiating with creditors as it advances its proposed restructuring plan and will attempt to secure additional cost savings with the help of legal tools it has available in Chapter 11.Spirit had more than 200 Airbus SE aircraft at the time it filed Chapter 11, according to court documents. Spirit has been shrinking its fleet and plans to remove from operation another 15 to 20 aircraft in mid-April, with another cut at the end of the US summer. The size of the final reduction has not yet been determined, said Davis.The carrier also said it would ramp up flying during busy periods and reduce off-peak flying to match consumer demand, and expand its premium economy offerings and co-branded programmes.The company sought Chapter 11 protection in August for the second time in less than a year after an earlier bankruptcy that cut debt from its balance sheet failed to turn around the business.Spirit has said it will use its second bankruptcy to reduce its operating costs and recently struck an agreement to sell 20 Airbus aircraft for at least $533.5mn.The Florida-based airline has been taking steps to reduce labor costs as part of the restructuring. In November, Spirit announced 150 job cuts across corporate and operational roles. Last year, it furloughed roughly 1,800 flight attendants and at least 270 pilots. 

Irish budget airline Ryanair Wednesday said it would slash more than 1mn winter seats in Spain over "excessive airport fees", sparking "extortion" accusations from the national airport operator.The row is the latest clash in an ongoing spat between the carrier and Spanish authorities that erupted last year after the leftist government fined Ryanair €107.8mn for "abusive practices" such as charging for hand luggage.Ryanair said in a statement that the cuts, which affect destinations including the popular Atlantic holiday island of Tenerife, were "due to excessive and uncompetitive airport fees" applied by state-owned airport operator Aena."These cuts will harm already vulnerable Spanish regional airports even more, and inevitably lead to a loss of investment, connectivity, tourism and jobs," Ryanair added, warning "many routes will be economically unviable".Aena chief executive Maurici Lucena retorted in a scathing statement that Spanish airports would "cease to function well" if they "evolved to the tune of the demands, whining, swindling and intolerable strategy of extortion of Ryanair".In January, the airline announced it was scrapping 800,000 seats on seven regional Spanish routes in response to Aena's airport fees.It has also dropped several French airports over a tax hike on air travel.In the past two years, the company has "tried to intimidate the public authorities of Germany, France, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom", Lucena added.In response to last year's fine in Spain, Ryanair's group chief executive Michael O'Leary slammed Spain's far-left consumer rights minister Pablo Bustinduy as a "crazy communist".The firm then launched an advertising campaign that depicted the minister as a clown.Bustinduy has said "no pressure, no blackmail and no insult will stop me" in his defence of Spanish consumers against multinationals.