Spirit Airlines' Data Sale to Tech Company Sparks Concerns Over Employee Privacy

Defunct low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines has been selling off its remaining assets through bankruptcy court after shutting down operations in May. In August, the airline began accepting proposals to sell off its decades of business data to a tech company.

The current bidders include Google, which has offered $10 million, and AI company Micro1, with a bid of $12.5 million. Both companies would reportedly use the data to train AI models.

The potential sale is still awaiting final approval by the bankruptcy court in a hearing later in September. The data includes about 100 million emails, 500 million Microsoft Teams items, code and operational records, including employee information that would be de-identified by a court-approved third-party before being transferred to the highest bidder.

However, worker advocacy groups are objecting to the potential sale of employee data. The Association of Flight Attendants CWA has filed an objection to the sale, citing concerns about the effectiveness of de-identification procedures and the potential for information about identifiable individuals or small groups to be reconstructed.