New York, United States (AFP) —Budget airline Spirit, which filed for bankruptcy in November after months of difficulties, announced Thursday it had completed a restructuring deal with creditors to trim its debt by nearly $800 million.

“With significantly less debt and greater financial flexibility, Spirit emerges (from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection) as a stronger company better positioned for long-term success,” the carrier said.

The restructuring was approved by a “supermajority” of creditors and was validated on February 20 by a US bankruptcy court in New York, Spirit said, in a statement posted on the website of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In addition to reducing its debt by $795 million, the airline confirmed it had received the $350 million shareholder injection that had been announced last November. These funds are intended to support Spirit’s “future initiatives.”

The company will remain under the leadership of chief executive Ted Christie, who said in the statement: “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.”

New shares will soon replace the old ones as part of the restructuring. Spirit’s stock price had tumbled nearly 90 percent in the year prior to the bankruptcy filing.

Racking up 11 consecutive quarters of losses, the Florida-based company postponed the delivery of five aircraft and took several other cost-cutting measures including a hiring freeze for pilots and flight crew.

Spirit boosted its capacity and market share in the post-Covid aviation market, but faced increased competition from other carriers.

In 2022 competitor Frontier Airlines attempted a $2.9 billion merger with Spirit. Another rival, JetBlue, then made a potentially more lucrative offer but the deal fell through after authorities cited antitrust concerns.