Spirit Airlines hopes to get out of this the just filed for bankruptcy in the spring of 2025, but people are needed to run the company until then. That’s one reason why CEO Ted Christie got a $3.8 million bonus just less than a week before the airline filed for bankruptcy.

“On November 12, 2024, Spirit’s Board of Directors approved the payment of one-time cash retention awards (“Retention Awards”) to Spirit’s named executive officers,” the company said in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing where it announced its participation in the Chapter 11 proceedings.

The amount is smaller than the $6.6 million Christie received according to his total compensation for 2023 most recent annual proxy statement (supplemented by $1.8 million in separate retention bonuses he received after Spirit saved by a merger with Frontier Airlines (ULCC+2.93%) due to the failed partnership with JetBlue Airways (JBLU+2.65%)) but larger than the total compensation of $3.4 million he received in 2022.

Christie isn’t the only person at the budget airline, America’s seventh largest, getting a check to stick around. Spirit also paid retention bonuses to CFO Fred Cromer ($175,000), chief operating officer John Bendoraitis ($850,000), chief commercial officer Matthew Klein ($250,000) and chief information officer Rocky Wiggins ($300,000).

However, the money comes with a catch. If the executives leave the company within a year, they must pay back their bonuses – within ten days of their departure. The money could provide some comfort, as the group is collectively owned Approximately 407,000 shares of Spirit Airlines which are essentially worthless now that the carrier’s stock has run out delisted by the New York Stock Exchange.