Fresh from spending $200 million taxpayer dollars on private jets in the midst of a government shutdown, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem apparently was also searching for ICE to buy ten Boeing 737s from bankrupt (again) Spirit Airlines. This was supposedly for 2 reasons: her own personal use (since the private jets weren’t enough) and in addition to enable more deportation flights faster. Sadly for Noem, this plan had just a few small problems — Spirit leases its aircraft and doesn’t actually own any to sell, and those in query did not have any engines anyway.
The Wall Street Journal broke the news, citing inside sources that are not pleased about how Noem is using ICE’s massive recent budget. On condition that there are other (and cheaper) ways to extend deportation flights, resembling just leveling up current contracts, the entire thing looks like it was more for show than to really advance any policy. For that matter, because the article notes, ICE is having trouble actually arresting enough people to fill the Trump administration’s targets. Possibly there’s just not that many hardened undocumented criminals, and lots of of them are actually working essential jobs? Anyway, on condition that they’ve taken to arresting Koreans at a Hyundai plant, it doesn’t look like they’ve enough people to deport to fill ten 737s. Probably for the most effective, then, that the plan is on hold now.
And in addition, they do not exist
Oh, and one other thing: Spirit doesn’t even lease any Boeing 737s. The truth is, the airline has only flown one 737 in its history, just in the summertime of 2012. So this proposed deal sure had some holes in it. For what it’s value, the DHS responded to the WSJ by saying that a number of the plane story was inaccurate. Which parts? They didn’t say. So, there you might be.
Spirit, for its part, is indeed attempting to unload a bunch of its aerial inventory. The ailing company desires to return 114 planes to its lessors, or greater than half its entire fleet. It’s aiming to re-emerge from bankruptcy as a much leaner operation. It’s hard times for the aviation industry generally, and smaller outfits are feeling the pinch hardest of all. It’s enough to make an executive go crazy. Possibly crazy enough to sell some planes they do not even have.
This Article First Appeared At www.jalopnik.com
