VERO BEACH, Fla. — The sudden shutdown of Spirit Airlines has left roughly 17,000 employees and contractors out of work — including people across Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.
Robert Pettit commuted from Vero Beach to the Spirit Airlines Operations Center in Orlando on Friday, not knowing it would be his last shift.
WATCH BELOW: Local flight dispatcher among thousands of Spirit employees out of work
"We were supposed to make it through," Pettit said. "The company was on its way out of Chapter 11 (bankruptcy)."
Pettit worked as a flight dispatcher for 14 years, including the last four years with Spirit. He described his job as a "pilot on the ground," helping navigate Spirit's fleet around dangerous weather and logistical hurdles.
"It's just amazing to like to do that every day, when you go to work and you're responsible for thousands of people's safety in the sky," Pettit said.
His manager delivered the news at 11:30 p.m. Friday, less than an hour before his shift ended.
"Everyone was just so professional," Pettit said. "They weren't showing any type of emotion that it was over. It was just like, you know, staying focused on their jobs. It was pretty amazing."
Now, Pettit says he doesn't know what comes next.
"Just abrupt, like, a light switch turned off, and now your income is shut off, your benefits shut off. And it's like-- it's very surreal and very sad," Pettit said.
State Rep. Debra Tendrich of Lake Worth said she wants to help workers like Pettit. She is compiling a list of local employers who are hiring to share with displaced Spirit employees.
"I really believe that our community is strongest when we show up for one another," Tendrich said. "We're doing the work to kind of gather all this information and support, and we will partner with our other local representatives if someone does reach out to us from outside of our district."
In response to the Spirit Airlines shutdown, CareerSource in Broward County, where the airline is headquartered, hosted a "rapid response" event for displaced employees Monday afternoon.
"It was very short notice," Pettit said.
He added that he, his wife and three children plan to stay put in their home in Vero Beach.
"I was in the Orlando facility as my last duty, and then it's like, I came home, and it's just like, I'm just forgotten about," Pettit said.
A spokesman for CareerSource Research Coast, which serves Indian River County, said their office also stands ready to help Spirit employees.
CareerSource Research Coast and Palm Beach County are hosting a dual-region job fair on May 13 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Indian River State College's Chastain campus, located at 2400 Southeast Salerno Road in Stuart.
United Airlines and American Airlines created "micro-sites" to fast-track job applications from displaced Spirit employees, but Pettit is skeptical that other airlines can absorb the entire Spirit workforce.
"The other airlines don't have positions open at all times for flight dispatchers or system controllers or anything like that," Pettit said. "So the idea that we could just step back into another role, another airline, very easily, is not really realistic."
Pettit said he hopes to remain in aviation, a career he dreamed about since childhood, but he's open to other sectors.
"I think on my feet, I'm very resourceful, and I have already have about 10-15 applications since that night, already in the pipeline for different industries, not just airlines. And we're going to make it through," Pettit said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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